General Augusto Pinochet returned to the Chilean landscape on March 3. Spain's judicial request for his extradition for crimes against human rights was quashed by Britain on "humanitarian" grounds.

The self-appointed "Senator for Life," was greeted with full military honors, a brass band, singing schoolchildren and throngs of supporters. The general, found by Britain to be too unwell and lacking the mental capacity to stand trial, waved a hearty greeting at the exuberant masses. It could have been a scene from his 1973-90 dictatorship.

Some 50 dissenting demonstrators were surrounded and driven away by military police, sporting dogs and water cannon. They were pelted on their way out with rocks and bottles from the pro-Pinochet crowd.

The pomp and belligerence gave notice to the newly elected socialist president, Richard Lagos, that the army still regards the general as savior of Chile and they're not afraid to show it.

While the reception may have been warm, the general didn't arrive in the same Chile that he left.

He returned to face 60 criminal complaints, filed since judge Balthasar Garzon of Spain delivered the warrant to Britain, puncturing Pinochet's aura of invulnerability. The number of complaints has since risen to 81.

While the general was being received by his admirers, an anti-Pinochet demonstration gathered at the Presidential Palace, giving notice of their own that the dictatorship doesn't live there anymore.

Outside Chile, France, Belgium and Switzerland filed their own charges following Garzon's move. Britain's decision doesn't come without political cost. The Swiss magistrate who applied for Pinochet's extradition gave voice to widespread sentiment when he said, "I'm not surprised by this decision, which confirms that England is still a safe haven for criminals of all kinds." Even the U.S. Justice Department is investigating Pinochet for the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier and U.S. citizen Ronnie Moffit in Washington D.C. The pair were blown up in their car by DINA, the Chilean secret police. They were assassinated as part of Operation Condor, aU.S.-sponsored dirty war waged against South American activists.

The general's return fractured an agreement, on the verge of signature, between the military and human rights attorneys. The agreement, negotiated for months, lays out the framework for investigations of abuses during the military dictatorship. The military was distracted and on the defensive during Pinochet's house arrest in a posh London suburb. Since his release, the commanders have found the courage to refuse to sign an agreement they feel puts them at risk of prosecution.

In the courtroom, Pinochet's lawyers have requested tests of Pinochet's fitness to stand trial. Prosecutors say that health or current mental capacity can only be used in deciding the penalty, not for avoiding trial altogether.

Pinochet's current parliamentary immunity as a senator precludes any of the complaints from continuing as criminal matters. The cases are being pursued as civil suits while prosecutors attempt get the immunity removed. One prosecutorial argument being that his mental condition makes him unfit to serve as Senator.

While Pinochet's return can be seen as a setback for justice, that he was even indicted is a dramatic development in the movement for planetary human rights. Pinochet had gone to England for medical treatment without a second thought. He could expect nothing but first class treatment while visiting his old ally. Judge Garzon had a different idea. His decade-long career of prosecuting difficult and dangerous cases of corruption and human rights abuses included an investigation against Pinochet. Seizing his chance he changed international law and sparked numerous political and diplomatic crises.

The Spanish Prime Minister disavowed the judge's actions. He even lamented that such a move might endanger countless innocents because current dictators might now choose to never retire for fear of prosecution. Perhaps Prime Minister Aziz was thinking about some of his cabinet members who were officials in the government of General Francisco Franco, deceased dictator of Spain. Franco is one of Pinochet's heroes. Heinous as were the crimes of Pinochet, they did not reach the accomplishments of Franco's regime; Garzon reached into the black heart of Spain as clearly as into Chile's.

His courage, far reaching persistence, and dashing figure have made Garzon a Spanish "media figure." (in less sophisticated times he might be called a "hero.") He was already popular in Spain before he gaveled the world into attention. He's not popular in all circles. He travels with bodyguards.

More information: www.derechoschile.com; www.lakota.clara.net; www.newsunlimited.co.uk/pinochet_on_trial