Bermuda should do everything it can to prevent General Augusto Pinochet from landing here, a human rights advocate charged last night.

In the midst of speculation that the former Chilean dictator may stop on the Island on his way home from house arrest in the Britain, lawyer Rod Attride-Stirling said Pinochet should be placed on Bermuda's stop-list.

But Immigration and Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox said the Island's stop-list only applied to people who were officially entering Bermuda, adding: "If the question was to arise, it may not be an Immigration matter anyway.'' She said she did not know if General Pinochet was already on Bermuda's stop-list.

`Put Pinochet on Bermuda's stop-list' But asked if Bermuda had the capacity to decide who it wanted in the country or not, Ms Cox said: "Certainly we do.'' Mr. Attride-Stirling, a former Amnesty International activist, also suggested that, if word did come that Pinochet would be stopping here, letters should be sent by Government to both the British and Chilean governments noting strong objections to his landing. "It may well be that nothing can be done about it, '' he said, "but at least we will have tried.'' He added: "And I think, if we made a real fuss about it, the Chileans would change their plans anyway to avoid embarrassment.

"It would be a great moral victory to know that the poor man had to change his travel plans because Bermuda didn't want him even setting foot here. I don't see why the plane should have to stop here at all.'' The issues have been at the front of the world's stage since last week when UK Home Secretary Jack Straw announced recent medical reports had found General Pinochet to be "unfit'' to stand trial for alleged human rights abuses dating back to the latter part of his 1973 to 1990 rule.

A Chilean Air Force Boeing 707 was speedily dispatched to pick up the ailing 84 year old, but having stopped in Bermuda to reportedly refuel on Tuesday night, the aircraft was still sitting on the tarmac at the airport last night.

Chilean military officials confirmed on Thursday that the plane was waiting for a final decision from Mr. Straw on whether Pinochet would indeed be released.

Human rights groups and countries have been campaigning for his extradition ever since his arrest in October 1998, which was the result of a request from Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon.

Amnesty International was just one organisation to send a representation to Mr. Straw this week in the hope of swaying him in his final decision.

Mr. Attride-Stirling said he thought General Pinochet should be on the Island's stop-list regardless of whether he was coming here or not.

"There is no one more deserving to be on that list than him,'' he said. "His reputation is now notorious with numerous reports from reliable sources of the atrocities he committed.

"He is a cold blooded, common murderer.'' Ms Cox said the decision to put someone on the stop-list depended on "general issues of conduct''.

But the stop-list only has powers to prevent unwanted people from officially entering Bermuda through its Immigration channels.

"We are speculating here,'' she said, "but if the question was to arise, then it may not be an Immigration matter anyway.

"It's an interesting question between domestic and international law, but the fact remains that some things are dealt with at a diplomatic level and certain things aren't.''