Michelle Bachelet's emotional visit to former detention centre

Michelle Bachelet nearly broke down while visiting the faciity where she was held during the 1973-1990 dictatorship.

SANTIAGO // The former Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, nearly broke down while visiting the detention and torture centre where she was held during the 1973-1990 dictatorship.
The site formerly known as Villa Grimaldi has been turned into a memorial garden called Park for Peace. But the trees where detainees were tied and a wooden tower to oversee prisoners still stand.
Ms Bachelet was held there along with her mother, Angela Jeria, in 1975. It is an ordeal she prefers not to talk about, saying only that she suffered "physical hardships."
During an emotional ceremony on Tuesday, Ms Bachelet held a photograph of a woman who became one of the thousands of victims of Gen Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship.
As Chile yesterday marked the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Pinochet to power, the current president called for national reconciliation, amid violent protests.
"The time has come not to forget, but to overcome the traumas of the past," Sebastian Pinera said in an address from the La Moneda presidential palace.
"The best legacy we can leave our children is a country reconciled and at peace," he said as he led a ceremony honouring the victims of the September 11, 1973 overthrow of president Salvador Allende.
In a sign of the persistent divisions in the South American country, disturbances broke out overnight in the capital Santiago.
At least 68 demonstrators - who torched cars and barricades - were arrested, police said.
Mr Pinera, Chile's first right-wing head of state since democracy was restored in 1990, stressed that reconciliation will require Chileans "to continue on the path of truth and justice".
He condemned those responsible for human-rights violations during the 17-year Pinochet regime while singling out those of influence "who could have done more" at the time to stop the abuse.
One of those accused of carrying out Pinochet's orders are the jailed former chief of Chile's Dina secret police force, Manuel Contreras. On Tuesday he said that Pinochet ordered him to arrest Ms Bachelet and her mother because they allegedly planned to murder four air-force generals. He offered no evidence for that accusation.
The former Dina chief has been in prison since 1995, when he was sentenced for the 1976 car bombing that killed a former Chilean foreign minister, Orlando Letelier, and his assistant, Ronni Moffit, in Washington.
After her release, Ms Bachelet went into exile. She began her political career after returning to Chile.
Ms Bachelet was elected president in 2006 and is seeking a return to the presidency as front-runner in the November 17 election.
There is increasing pressure in Chile to uncover the whole truth about a dictatorship that left more than 3,200 dead and about 38,000 people tortured.
Pinochet died in 2006 without ever having gone on trial and the Chilean court system has about 1,300 cases open involving crimes committed during his rule.
* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse