Hoax: Pat Robertson Did Not Attribute Chilean Earthquake to God’s Punishment for The Mistreatment of Augusto Pinochet

Various sites are reporting that TV evangelist Pat Robertson is again holding forth on seismic retribution. Robertson was quoted as saying “God is even angrier with them than he is with the people of Haiti” — which would explain the greater seismological magnitude in the 8.8 earthquake. The reason: what Chileans did to poor General Augusto Pinochet. Update: our earlier stated suspicions were confirmed and the author admits that the story was untrue.

We discussed earlier that this might be a hoax, but given Robertson’s past proclamations, it had a certain air of authenticity, here.

Robertson is quoted as saying:

“If I had to guess, I’d say it must have to do with Chile’s persecution and attempted prosecution of their great former leader, and a personal hero of mine, Augusto Pinochet – who, it should be noted, had never been convicted of a crime when the Lord called him home three years ago. . . General Pinochet not only assisted the CIA in the overthrow of Chile’s Marxist government, but is widely credited with personally arranging the meetings of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of his countrymen with Jesus.”

However, there is no reference in these articles to the forum where the comments were made. It turned out to be satire but picked up by dozens of sites as a Salon story.

Here is what the Salon writer posted on our site:

To Set the Record Straight: As the author,I feel qualified to say without equivocation that the referenced story is satire. While certain (linked) elements are factual and I thought worthy of shedding a little light on, I simply figured it was only a matter of time before Mr. Robertson would say something appalling (as he seems to after every major catastrophe like 9/11 and the Haiti earthquake) to blame the victims for bringing God’s wrath down upon them. And as it has recently come to light that Mr. Robertson has made his own “deal with the Devil” — in his case, Liberia’s Taylor, why not have him defend, as he did, in Taylor’s case to the American people and President for the purpose of enriching his bank account as opposed to his soul, someone who seemed to have much in common with Taylor? While I apologize to those who have been upset by this story (believing it was real), in my defense, I offer subtle hints included in the text of the piece, such as the fact the (the dead) “Pinochet … could not be reached for comment, even by Robertson…”

The problem is that this is not April 1st and the satire could have been based on an actual story.

For the full story and commentary, click here and here and here.