Pinochet

Santiago (Chile), Dec. 3 (Reuters): Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack today and was given a bypass operation which his son said brought him back from the brink of death.

Pinochet, who stands accused of human rights abuses and corruption from his iron-fisted rule of Chile from 1973 to 1990, was rushed to hospital in the capital Santiago at about 2 am (0500 GMT).

He was given the Roman Catholic last rites — traditionally administered by a priest to the dying — before surgeons operated on him.

Shortly after 9 am (1200 GMT), a doctor emerged from the hospital and told reporters the 91-year-old retired general was stable, conscious and breathing without assistance.

Pinochet’s relatives and friends rushed to his bedside. His former personal secretary Monica Ananias was in tears as she arrived at the clinic.

A group of around 50 Pinochet supporters gathered outside the hospital, waving photos of the former president. One held a large red, white and blue Chilean flag. Others wept and chanted his name.

“If I could, I would give a bit of my own life to the general to allow him to keep going,” a woman told reporters as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Pinochet’s son, Marco Antonio Pinochet, said his father was in a “pretty serious state”.

“They gave him a bypass, a medical procedure to practically bring him back from death. We’re in the hands of God and the doctors,” he said.