Chile bids emotional farewell to Pinochet

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec 11 (Reuters) Thousands of Chileans, some praying and many in tears, flocked to a chapel in Santiago today to pay their respects to Augusto Pinochet, the former dictator who polarized the country and who died yesterday.

Pinochet, who ruled Chile for 17 years, died in a hospital after suffering a heart attack a week ago. He had appeared to be recovering from the attack before his health suddenly deteriorated, doctors said.

News of his death prompted an outpouring of conflicting emotions in Chile where, a third of a century after he swept to power in a swift and violent coup, Pinochet's legacy is still hotly disputed.

Some Chileans say the general saved their country from communism while others regard him as a murderer who escaped justice and should have been tried for human rights abuses.

Demonstrating Pinochet's polarizing legacy, the government of President Michelle Bachelet, who was held in a notorious detention center, said there will be no official mourning and the former dictator will be given a military but not a full state funeral.

The Pinochet family criticized the government's decision.

Bachelet will not attend the funeral but her defense minister Vivianne Blanlot will.

Several thousand people waited in line outside the military college where Pinochet's body lay in state ahead of his funeral tomorrow.

They entered the chapel, prayed, cried and filed past his glass-topped coffin, pausing to pay their respects to the general.

Pinochet's wife and at least two of his five children were in the chapel.

Pinochet's body was clearly visible inside, dressed in a dark blue military uniform. His cap, sword and a braided military jacket were draped at the foot of the coffin.

''We've come in recognition of the great thing he did in saving us from the Marxist-Leninist cancer,'' said Octavio Chau, a 32-year-old music producer waiting to pay his respects.

''It's thanks to that that we're a free country.'' Graffiti scrawled on the walls of buildings in central Santiago expressed different emotions. ''Today, the murderer died,'' read one message. Said another: ''Pinochet, give my regards to the devil.'' MORE REUTERS PDM RN2041