Santiago - Chile's President Ricardo Lagos yesterday bowed to calls from the armed forces that he convene the National Security Council, but said he would do so only after a court issues its ruling on the house arrest order on former dictator Gen Augusto Pinochet.
"I decided to convene the National Security Council as it is the institutional forum in which the armed forces can express their concerns to the State," Mr Lagos said.
On Tuesday, the Santiago Appeals Court suspended the house arrest warrant for Gen Pinochet issued on December 1st.
Judge Juan Guzman had ordered the former dictator to be arrested for his role as the "intellectual author" of the 1973 series of kidnappings and murders of 75 political opponents known as the "caravan of death".
