Santiago, Tuesday
HUNDREDS of communists and leftists attended a funeral service today
for Erich Honecker, the former East German leader and architect of the
Berlin Wall who died on Sunday in self-imposed exile in Chile.
The crowd applauded, sang leftist songs and threw red carnations at
Honecker's coffin, which was draped in the flag of former East Germany
and escorted by his widow, Margot, and daughter Sonja.
''With sorrow we have gathered to bid farewell to a friend and comrade
who we have much to thank for,'' Volodia Teitleboim, the head of Chile's
Communist Party, said at the service at Santiago's General Cemetery.
Margot Honecker, occasionally choking back tears, remained silent
throughout the ceremony, at which other supporters also delivered
eulogies, including Graciela Alvarez, representing a group called
Chileans in Solidarity with Erich Honecker.
Honecker, who ruled East Germany with an iron fist for 18 years, died
at his home in Santiago after a long battle with liver cancer. He was
81.
He had lived in Chilean exile since January 1993, after a court in
reunited Germany ruled he was too sick to stand trial for the killings
of those shot trying to cross the Berlin Wall and escape his regime.
In Germany, Honecker's lawyer said his ashes would be returned to
Berlin or his home town.
Honecker established ties with Chile two decades ago when he offered
political asylum to hundreds of Chilean leftists who fled after the 1973
coup led by General Augusto Pinochet that toppled Marxist President
Salvador Allende.--Reuter.
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