It looks like the courts in Chile may finally be getting their man once and for all. General Pinochet, who overthrew the Soviet-funded communist government and served as president until he stepped down in 1990, has been charged by the court for abused of human rights during his rule in which more than 3000 people were killed.

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) – One day before his 90th birthday, former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet was under house arrest on Thursday and facing tax fraud and human rights charges in his toughest legal situation yet.

On Wednesday, Pinochet was placed under house arrest and charged with tax fraud, forging passports and documents, and incomplete reporting of his assets in a case involving an estimated $27 million hid in foreign bank accounts.

Pinochet was about to pay bail in the tax fraud case on Thursday when a separate judge put him back under house arrest and charged him in seven disappearances that are part of a 1974 human rights case known as Operation Colombo.

Judge Victor Montiglio’s ruling said Pinochet should face trial in seven “permanent kidnappings,” the term Chile’s legal system uses for people who were arrested by state forces and are presumed dead but whose bodies were never found.

Montiglio did not set bail for Pinochet, whose family is planning a birthday party for him at his Santiago home on Friday.

“Without a doubt, this is the worst birthday he could have from a judicial standpoint, this is by far the most delicate situation he’s gone through,” political scientist Ricardo Israel said.

When I saw the first charges of tax evasion being shown on the news yesterday, I was at the airport with my best friend from Chile and whatever we were drinking came right out of our noses. It instantly became the topic of conversation, although by conversation I mean things like, “Wow, didn’t see that coming.” This could be the first time that Pinochet is actually tried for human rights abuses. Given that he is 90 years old, and his mental capacities are questionable, the trial will undoubtedly hold more symbolic than practical value. While many acknowledge what Pinochet did for Chile to become what it is today, his conviction will be an utter rejection of the methods — the kidnappings, murders, and torture — used to secure those goals. It will solidify the anti-totalitarian Chilean mindset that has developed over the past 15 years.

But I think that most analysts who say that Pinochet has been totally discredited because of the money laundering investigations are wrong. Of course, those whose families were directly affected by the kidnappings and torture always saw him as discredited, and now most people who live in the cities — especially the urban elite and growing middle class — have begun to withdraw from any possible defence of his character. However, that hardly represents a very large portion of the country’s population.

Just drive an hour away from Santiago out to Los Andes or San Felipe and you’ll know what I mean. The same story is told elsewhere outside the city. One time I was at a bar in Los Andes and was treated by a young woman to a ten minute anti-communist diatribe that was frankly quite funny but also revealing as to the mindset of the workaday Chilean. While the nobody wants a return to the dictatorship, and communism has certainly been discredited for a long time, most people are still unwilling to give Pinochet up.

As scary as that potentially sounds, I wouldn’t worry about it much. It’s a slow process that is a long way coming, but it’s coming. Chile has been moving in the free-market, balanced direction under the centre-left Concertacion alliance while the right, many of whom are affiliated with the former regime, have begun to distance themselves completely from Pinochet. Though some might think this indictment could be politically motivated with the presidential election coming up in December, the state of politics in the country is looking very healthy. I would go as far as saying that Chile is perhaps the most stable, most prosperous, and most free country in Latin America right now.