Augusto Pinochet
Despite his name evoking visions of a robust red wine, Augusto Pinochet was far from palatable. This merciless military maestro, in a 1973 coup supported by Uncle Sam, ousted Allende’s democratically-elected Unidad Popular government, bringing an abrupt end to civilian rule. Pinochet’s iron-fisted junta held Chile in a stranglehold for 17 years, during which his right-wing regime extinguished 3000 lives and tortured around 29000 in chilling detention camps.
In 1998, London’s finest swooped in, arresting this faux-populist tyrant under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Pinochet, the notorious Chilean despot, was kept under British house arrest, only to be released without extradition to Spain for trial. By the time fate caught up with him in 2006, succumbing to heart failure and pulmonary edema, a whopping 300 criminal charges, from human rights abuses to tax evasion and secret arms deals, remained pending against him in his homeland.