Chile's New Regime Weighs Pinochet Impunity ; on Saturday, Ricardo Lagos Was Inaugurated as President, Pledging to Stem Military Power and Privilege

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Augusto Pinochet shuffles around the garden outside his vacation home on the coast - temporarily sheltered from the maelstrom he's whipped up in the outside world. But the former Chilean ruler can take solace in one unalterable fact. No matter how loudly human rights groups abroad and at home howl, the wheels of justice in Chile turn at a geologic pace.

On March 3, Mr. Pinochet returned here from London, where he had been detained 503 days for human rights abuses. Released on grounds of mental and physical infirmity, the general stunned onlookers at the Santiago airport when he rose from his wheelchair and waved to the crowds. Some alleged that this recovery la …