Bust of Pinochet to go in presidential palace

SANTIAGO, Chile, Dec 18 (Reuters) A bust of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet will probably be placed in the presidential palace bombed in the general's 1973 coup, the defense minister said in an interview.

The decision to include him in the pantheon of Chile's former presidents was likely to anger leftists who say Pinochet, who died last weekend at 91, should be ostracized by the state because of human rights abuses committed during his 1973-90 dictatorship.

In an interview yesterday with El Mercurio newspaper, Defense Minister Vivianne Blanlot was asked if Chile would unveil a bust of Pinochet in the presidential palace, La Moneda.

''I think so, even though the idea is repulsive to many of us,'' said Blanlot, who represented the center-left government at Pinochet's funeral on Tuesday.

She said the state had recognized Pinochet as a former president during the transition to democracy and was therefore obliged to grant him the honor.

The bust would stand in the same gallery as that of Salvador Allende, the democratically elected president overthrown by Pinochet in a coup on September 11, 1973.

During the coup, Pinochet ordered the air force to bomb the palace to kill Allende loyalists who were firing at his troops from the roof.

Allende, who was inside, survived the bombing but committed suicide as Pinochet's troops closed in.

Pinochet supporters say the general saved Chile from communism by overthrowing Allende while his opponents say he was a murderer who should have been tried for human rights abuses.

More than 3,000 people died in political violence during the dictatorship -- the vast majority killed by Pinochet's soldiers and secret police. Around 28,000 people were tortured.

Blanlot, who was whistled and jeered by Pinochet supporters when she arrived at the funeral, said she understood the reaction of those leftists who danced in the streets and drank champagne last Sunday in celebration of Pinochet's death.

''I wouldn't have done it myself but I understand it,'' she said. ''I can't condemn them.'' REUTERS PDS BST0422