Pinochet’s widow Lucia Herriart dies at 99 in Chile | Globalism

His death came three days before a presidential election that drew in ChileOne candidate defends the legacy of the military regime.

Herriart provoked strong reactions among Chileans due to the perception of the influence she wielded over Pinochet and the wealth amassed by her family. His estate was managed by a controversial institution, which has been the subject of several judicial investigations.

My dear grandmother passed away at the age of 99, surrounded by relatives and loved ones. She left a huge imprint in our hearts ”, her granddaughter, Carina Pinochet, posted on the social network.

“She gave her life in the service of Chileans and history will know how to appreciate her great work and that of our beloved country. ‘Rest in peace,’” he wrote.

Pinochet, a military general, overthrew the nation’s democratically elected government in a bloody coup in 1973. During his 17-year rule, more than 3,000 people were killed or disappeared and tens of thousands were tortured.

During the period of dictatorship in the seventies and eighties, Chile It also created much of its current market-oriented economic system, which has helped spur decades of growth but has also fueled inequality.

In the biography of journalist Alejandra Matos, Herriart is depicted as a tough figure who was critical of her husband. The two were married from 1943 to 2006, when Pinochet died.

the Chile He will vote to elect a new president on Sunday between leftist Gabriel Borek and ultra-conservative Jose Antonio Caste, who has defended Pinochet’s legacy and said the former dictator would have voted for him had he been alive.