Any opposition to Straw's decision will be blind opposition
The problem is that the doctors' report is secret. This means it is not possible, for instance, for Spanish forensic doctors to examine these findings and reach their own conclusions. It seems that the British home office realised how hard it would be [for the Spanish prosecutors] to make a representation without the details of the diagnosis. This is why the home office sought… authorisation to hand a copy of the report to the Spanish authorities. But Pinochet rejected the proposal.

As such, the representations invited by the home office will be of a somewhat metaphysical nature. Any opposition to Straw's decision will be blind opposition, necessarily, and as such thoroughly unsound.
El Pais, Spain

A landmark in the defence of human rights
The Pinochet case is a landmark in the defence of human rights. The progress made has not been simply rhetorical or notional. Even if the ex-dictator does now return to his country, some incontrovertible principles have been established. First, that treaties and conventions into which nations enter lightly are nonetheless binding; and second, that the protection of [human] rights requires a framework which is better defined than the individual actions of a Spanish magistrate. ABC, Spain

'Purely humanitarian grounds'
By announcing its decision before the results of the Chilean election are known, the British government wants to give the impression that it has no political motive, and is acting on purely humanitarian grounds. […] Carlos Slepoy, the prosecuting lawyer in the Spanish case against General Augusto Pinochet, said last night that the British government's decision was "a very grave error, and one that that does great harm to the cause of human rights". La Vanguardia, Spain

Humanitarian considerations
Quoting Ricardo Lagos, the presidential candidate: "The British government's decision was made in favour of a sick man. All of us who have humanitarian values must feel compassionately about that… There's a lot of work to be done in Chile. The humanitarian considerations that have been sketched out in this case must lead us to thoughts of other humanitarian considerations." El Mercurio de Santiago, Chile

Pinochet will walk directly on to Chile's judicial stage
As the principal suspect in the criminal investigation led by the [Chilean] justice minister Juan Guzman, in which seven high-ranking retired military officers have been tried and more than 80 members of the armed forces of varying ranks questioned, and with 55 criminal charges against him, life senator Augusto Pinochet will walk directly on to the judicial stage when he returns to Chile.
La Tercera, Chile

The humanitarian treatment none of his victims received
If Pinochet goes free, [Britain] will have granted the wish repeatedly expressed by a human rights campaigner in London: "We want [Pinochet] to receive the humanitarian treatment which none of his victims enjoyed".
Clarin, Argentina

All very paradoxical
Straw's decision, whether or not Pinochet now returns, ruffles the sheets of bygone phantoms. It's the past returning. And it leaves Lagos [the leftwing candidate in the Chilean presidential elections], Frei's heir apparent, in a better light than Lavín [the rightwing candidate]… all very paradoxical.
La Nacion, Argentina