Dario Paya, a UDI member of parliament for the capital Santiago, has little time for liberal handwringing over Pinochet - particularly when it's done by outsiders. He finds it irritating to constantly fend off foreign attacks which fail to see that the General brought about Chile's economic miracle.

"Look, it might sound too big a comparison, but, if you ask me, I can only compare what happened in Chile with Pinochet with what happened in Germany and Japan after the war.

"Countries that were absolutely collapsed were militarily occupied by regimes which imposed economic systems based on freedom and new political institutions and through a period of transition arrived at full democracy."

The right-wing UDI currently holds 17 seats in Chile's 120-seat Chamber of Deputies.

Speaking from Santiago, Payo's immediate reaction to the House of Lords decision was one of anger. "It's absolutely outrageous. It's tantamount to trying (Britain's) Lord Mountbatten in a Chilean court for what he did in India."

Paya, only nine when the military took over, admits that Pinochet's men were responsible for the deaths of some 3,000 people, but says that political violence was part of Chile's effort to get rid of Marxism and return to democracy.

According to Paya, this week's decision by British courts, which could result in Pinochet being extradicted to Spain on murder, torture and genocide charges, is a gross intrusion into Chile's internal affairs.

It could once again divide the country and jeopardise its transition to full democracy.

The responsibility to put an end to this test of Chilean democracy now rests in British hands, Payo says.

The British government can choose to block extradition moves by the Spanish.

"We'll be watching very carefully whether Mr Blair has the guts to take a responsible decision. And whether he has any respect for what is Chile's interest in the matter."