Pinochet generals and ministers incognito and “non official” visits to UK
The fluid relation between Pinochet’s regime in Chile and the UK following Margaret Thatcher’s victory in 1979 is not nothing new, however declassified British documents of the time to which BBC World had access, reveal the intensity of those links in defence and political issues, including in March/April 1982 when the Argentine military invasion of the Falkland Islands.
“This is a private visit, as a civilian, to buy a few books at Foyles and visit some friends in London from the time I was Air Force attaché” said in February 1982 General Fernando Matthei, commander of the Chilean Air Force and member of the military Junta.
However Matthei also mentioned, besides his ‘official’ visit that he expected to meet with Ministry of Defence officials to talk about the coming maintenance and upkeep of the Hunter fighters. But this was top secret: no word about it was to be mentioned. (Hawker Hunters were used by the Chilean Air Force to bomb the presidential palace in September 1973 when the coup)
The only ones aware of Matthei’s real mission in London were the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office which had received a confidential report anticipating the visit from the British ambassador in Santiago, as recorded in a recently declassified report from the UK government.
In 1980 and a few months after taking office PM Margaret Thatcher lifted the arms blockade on Chile which had been effective since the beginning of the Pinochet regime.
“The arrival of Thatcher to office marked a fundamental change in relations between Chile and the UK”, explains Uruguayan born Professor Francisco Panizza who currently teaches at the London School of Economics and is an expert in Latinamerican affairs.
Although officially the government of PM Thatcher tried a low profile for its good relations with the regime of General Pinochet, not only did they exist and flourish but resulted in several business deals.
Since the lifting of the embargo in 1980 to the end of April 1982, Chile had purchased in the UK arms and equipment for £ 21 million, which would be equivalent nowadays to £ 110 million or 160 million dollars. This included vessels, aircraft, guns and communication equipments among other items, but transactions were kept in the utmost reserve.
But yes they remained recorded in the secret archives some of them now declassified and to which the BBC World had access.
One of the vessels that left the UK at the end of March was turned back in support of the Falklands conflict which broke out two weeks after the vessel took to sea.
The sale of the second vessel took place 6 April four days after the landing of Argentine troops in the Falklands. (HMS Norfolk later “Capitan Prat” )
“The conflict helped to consolidate certain affinities and common interests, which were evident between both countries’ governments”, added Panizza.
Chile was the leading strategic ally of the UK in the recovery of the South Atlantic Islands and Matthei was one of the main interlocutors.
“I decided to talk to the English but they took the initiative. At that time a Commander Sidney Edwards arrived in Chile and we negotiated the delivery of aircraft, anti aircraft missiles, and radars in exchange for information. (…) We supported them with constant monitoring, radar and electronic listening devices” revealed Matthei in an interview back in 2005.
But what he did not say was that discussions had been going on for a long time, as the declassified documents show.
A month and a half before the war between Argentina and UK broke out, the Chilean embassy informed the Foreign Office details of Matthei’s visit: flight number, hotel booking and the time he planed to spend in London, from February 21 to 26.
“As a member of the Junta in Chile, General Maitthei is a very controversial figure. Despite his visit is not official we can’t be sure it doesn’t become public. If that happens any meeting with top officials from the cabinet will no doubt be strongly criticized by the human rights groupings”, warns a confidential memo from the Foreign Office in 1982.
Instructions were straight and clear: no secretary, minister or high ranking officer from government could participate in social activities or meetings with Matthei.
“However, the participation of second ranking officers from the Ministry of Defence or high ranking military officers to discuss defence sales must not be objected”, cautioned the memo.
“The British government has always been quite reluctant to mix economic with political relations. What matters are interests not ideologies” Panizza told BBC.
However Matthei was not the first Chilean official to visit incognito the UK.
“The position is similar to that of past visits to London by General Cesar Benavides, former Defence minister and now member of the Junta (1981/1983), and I believe that of Admiral (Jose) Merino who also was in London, which I think took place before I took my post”, concluded the confidential report from the British ambassador in Chile to the Foreign Office.
That means, Matthei was at least the third member of the Military Junta to have visited the UK as active member of the Chilean de facto government led by General Pinochet. But the truth is that the record on Pinochet regime top officials visits goes back quite a bit.
In effect by July 1977, under Labour PM James Callaghan, four ministers from the Pinochet regime had been in the UK on ‘private visits’ according to a Foreign Office restricted document from the time.
Sergio Fernandez, Labour minister spent two days in mid February. Foreign Affairs minister Admiral Patricio Carvajal visited London from March 3 to 8 on his return from a meeting in Geneva.
Another cabinet member who stopped by at London after a conference in Paris was Mining minister Enrique Valenzuela. At the time the English capital was no calling point for any commercial or private flight link to Chile.
But the most controversial of all visits was that of Finance minister Sergio Castro, who was in London from 29 June to 3 July, in search of investors interested in putting their money in a buoyant and neo-liberal country in the end of the world, called Chile.
In the midst of the economic crisis, Castro visited Bonn, Paris, Brussels and London where he met with top CEOs from the banking system and private industry. Even Canning House which is responsible for promoting and strengthening relations between the UK and the Spanish speaking world hosted Castro with a lunch to his honour. “A private” visit but not official, as the Foreign Office would be quick to reply to any questions on the subject.
Also in secret the UK hosted visits of Agriculture and Economy ministers from the Pinochet regime.
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Argentina might doing as well as Chile with different Dictators.
Even four year olds understand the difference between harmless lies and major lies for surreptitious collusion.
Well done, General Pinochet....we will be grateful for ever....
Then why all the whinging about Argentina becoming friends with Iran? I don't like their posture against Israel but they are the enemy of our enemies, UK, Europe, and USA. Same concept, stop ululating.
Then you are a fool. If you were argentine, but you aren't, so you are simply ignorant.
I think it is a crime when everyone agrees to spend 20 bucks on their secret santa presents and some shyster spends $5 and all you get is a cheap Chinese t shirt.
That is very true, however Iran is unfriendly to everyone, Argentina is a small fry bad boy making friends with a premier league idiological monster who've already financed/masterminded terror plots in your very own country let allow the rest of the world. CFK has made a friend of a country that does not seek peace and good relations with the rest of the world. One day Iran might well change its spots but not with I'mADinnerJacket in charge, threatening annialation of Israel, the US, the UK and their allies. CFK's timing is all wrong.
Pinochet did introduce a free market economy and it was not without considerable sacrifice - mostly by the middle-classes - that the country went from crippling, failed economic policies to the stable, growing country it is now. He was a complex and divisive leader. When the country evolved beyond dictatorship they dispensed with him in a democratic way and never looked back.
No, states can do their business in secret. If you guys developed a brand new, all singing, all dancing, hovering plane, with stealth mirrors and a dazzleship style under-belly, you do it in secret, you do not need to reveal anything to anyone. the reason for doing things secretly is your perogative, it's where the secrets hide illegal activies, well that is an entirely different matter. Watergate... that was secret and illegal. Enigma code cracking was secret but certainly not illegal... so on and so forth.
If you are Argentinian you have to admit Chile is run far better than your country and if you are Chileno you understand what I am talking about.
Argentina has never had democracy, you have a facade of democracy but the society is too corrupt for it to ever happen without some drastic perhaps draconian measures like Chile went through.
I hope your next ruler, and I use the term ruler when talking about any Bolivarian Socialist country because a President for life is not democracy. BS countries are RULED, they may have elections but they are tainted with payoffs, bribery and outright fraud. Unless and until Argentina gets rid of the endemic corruption it is doomed to a never ending cycle of economic ruin where every generation is poorer than the next.
The Ks are dictators, they have stolen all of the savings and future saving of your country to be kept in power.
I hope this is the end of the line for bad rulers in Argentina but I fear it is not.
The alternative is submitting to the yolk of the EU, US. I'd rather be allied with a country that keeps you neo-colonialists in Europe and North America with a tinge of sweat on your temples.
Fair comment, so long as you are as happy to share their fate!
He also was a friend of Britain in SA when all the other knob heads were backing The Dark Country and THEIR JUNTA.
Am I the only one on here who sees the hypocrisy in this by SA?
I'm neither. And I strongly disagree with you that torture and murder is needed to bring a nation forward. That's only by your standards.
Every SA nation today has elections that are far more democratic than that of USA. As I told your countryman Poppy, USA is one of the few nations that doesn't allow observers in under election in quite a few states. And it's the only nation that I know of where you can get elected President without achieving the majority of the votes.
You can say CFK got rich during her time as President, and that may be right. But in USA you could never become a President if you aren't rich to start with.
In that sense, Argentina is far more democratic than USA, even if both nations allows their President to make a profit out of their office.
Cashing in 2 days after leaving office is merely by-passing the rules, not a bit less corrupted.
Some European channel did an expose on the last US elections... The irregularities of voting hours being changed at whim on the day of the vote, the lines lasting hours and hours, the banning of people to vote in cities,they were even sending fake emails telling people to remember to go vote... and the email gave the date of the NEXT DAY!!!!!
Minorities were intimidated by right-wing officials, conservative voters were intimidated by “black nationalists” with weapons...
At the end of the show, they put all those things together and said such an election process would be unnaceptable in places like Belorrusia and Cuba, and that the USA would have to self-imposed sanctions because they met the criteria of ”non-transparent' elections!
That doesn't excuse murder and torture.
A general question, do you people think that murder and torture is ok as long as it doesn't affect you or your family?
I can only surmise from your knee-jerk response that you're not particularly bright.
The question was general, as I wrote.
What doesn't excuse murder and torture is building a society that provides free housing and being able to walk the streets without fear for crimes. Actually, there is nothing at all that excuses murder and torture, regardless of how any “Chilena” could have percepted things.
I would not want to live under an oppressive regime. One that intimidated and persecutes anyone questioning government. Chileans were evolved enough to understand that they did not have to return to the violence and upheaval of the past if they wanted a democracy.
I agree Pinochet put Chile on the road to economic stability but it was not without a huge price to pay and he most certainly did not do it alone. That honour goes to the Chilean people that made it happen through hard work and making sacrifices.
OR....the translation into English...
”Desperately Insecure about my Intelligence”
you are SO SO desperate to appear to be intelligent, yet you cant see that making verbose statements does NOT equate to intelligence.... and you can never seem to sway anybody's opinion either...
which suggest a singular lack of both intelligence and achievement.
oh ek ; you are CFK's speech writer!!!!
(roflmfao)
But if you have commited terrorists as in the 9/11 attack, the Madrid or London bombings where do you draw the line?
Interested to hear opinions
they'll probably turn out the Boy Scouts and whup the RG's arses.
...... you are saying that the UK established diplomatic relations with Argentina after the 1982 invasion to start another war?
not too smart....
UK PM Ca-Moron keeps complaining about the “argentine goverment harassment''.....that's happen any time the UK establish diplomatic relations with the enemy...
are you learning now?
Argentina is anti-british
sooner or later the british residing in Argentina will feel the same
”harassment“ the ”islanders” are complaining about?
I hear your answer: .....
what to do.....what to do....
What a bunch of tossers, fancy thinking we would not fight back.
Got to go down as on of the all time f...k ups!
In a perfect world nothing excuses murder and torture.
In reality they can often be justified as the lesser of two evils.
Chile has the highest life expectancy and lowest infant mortality rate in South America thanks to the economic prosperity that germinated during the dictatorship. That means tens of thousands of children have lived that would have died had we remained subject to communist poverty.
A general question, do you people think that the poverty that kills babies is ok as long as it doesn't affect you or your family?
“In secret”. Only criminals need to do things in secret.
What's your ethnic origin?
Chuckle chuckle
The “greater evil” is in the eye of the beholder. As Gandhi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. Although I strongly disagree with your statement, it doesn't surprise me people on this site thinks like that.
And poverty in SA has never been lower than it is today, matter of fact, improvements started 2002 and onwards.
I am not suggesting an eye for an eye. I am asking you which is the greater evil, the loss of the unfortunate souls who would impose poverty and misery upon us, or the loss of 1000s of children every year to poverty.
I agree that poverty in SA has never been lower, which we should all be thankful for. In Chile the economic corner was turned in 1974 when our share of the world's known copper reserves jumped from 7% to 30%.
The SA dictatorships didn't murder people who would've imposed nothing on you, the murdered civilians for having the “wrong” ideology.
Matter of fact, those who fought against the dictatorships are in many cases the same people that are reducing poverty today, Brazil and Uruguay comes to mind.
Point is, when these dictators murder people, these people have families. And by your own standards, a greater evil has given them the right to murder and torture back.
Argentina is probably the best example. According to the gov't you can eat for U$0.78/day and your are not considered in “poverty”
Yeah ok
Argentina Bolivarian?
This is endless! Hahaha!
Looks to Chavez to see what CFK will do next
I hear 3 different exchange rates
yeah it worked so well in Venezuela
Stevie you remind me of someone, I just can't place it? Mayhaps you have posted before under another nick?
You asking me if you can place me? How would I know?
Why would I post under another nick, it's not like I'm hiding anything.
You must confuse me with Chris and Conqueror, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
So do you really want to discuss poverty in Argentina or not? It is a fascinating topic. How does one eat on U$0.78 a day? Does garbage count?
www.americasquarterly.org/hirst/article
Viva Price Controls! Viva Devaluation! Viva Hyperinflation!
I can assure you that your FTAA is the direct source of the financial crisis that we live today. The free market is totally out of control and this affects the employment as companies are heading for greener grass, mainly in Asia.
I don't believe in a free market, as it is dependant on people consuming more and more, something that isn't bearable in the long run, for obvious reasons.
Now, scroll up a bit in your own link and try to find Argentina in ALBA.
You blame the last crisis on Free Trade? That is frankly astonishing! You know nothing about history or economics, nothing at all.
Tell me, if you can, who's population is better off, South Korea or North Korea and why?
South Korea vs North Korea? There are nuances, you know.
And what has those nations to do with ALBA? Or Argentina? You are all over the place. Please develop, I'm sure I'll get a laugh out of this one too.
Glad to discuss Argentina vs Chile if you don't know anything else.
Or how free trade caused the last economic downturn, that's a doozy and I would love to hear the rationale on that!
I bet you think Free trade is causing Argentina's current dilemma too.
Free trade means all countries involved open up their borders for external goods. These goods are manufactered in one place, only to be transported back and forth to the expense of the environment. Furthermore, companies seek to maximize their profits, meaning lowering the salaries. This shows in companies moving abroad to countries where the salaries are extremely low, meaning people loosing their jobs on one side and people working for alms on the other. The only ones making profit are the companies.
There are even more backsides. Few countries are interested in opening up their agricultural market for fear of loosing the backbone of their local production. This results in a selective free market where the technological advanced nations are free to trade their goods, while the agricultural nations can't compete in any way.
All in all, free market is bad, selective free market is worse.
:-)
As a start watch this and get back with me:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6D236E0348A5041B
and then this
www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSe86zpLI4
You are exactly why Argentina economy fails every decade like clockwork.
Personally, I'd love for your country to continue on that track, the rest of us can always use you as an example as how to not use the resources mother earth is providing.
All I can agree with you is that your method is the best one to make money in a short term. But you are blind to the conscequences, the impact it has on environment and those people that the market swallows.
Keep your ideas and your youtube-economy.
I told you I would get a laugh out of this.
Keep laughing, while your own country descends into a big black hole.
My own country? Which one is that Shed-time? Stevie-land? Tell you what, should Stevie-land descend into a “big black hole”, the rest of the world will taag along. You see, your economy is like your astronomy, a metaphor.
Keep digging.
Oh well, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person: NOT.
he was definitly on the UK's side as Chile was next on the Juntas game of risk and that war would have been even bloodier.
So your solution, much like CFK is trying to do right now with Iran, is to barter? So how many Tons of Soy is worth a ship of Oil?
You've got a lot way to go before I take anything you say seriously. At this point I think my cat is smarter than you are.
You are one of the reasons your country fails every decade.
Does Argentina import their Economic Teachers from North Korea? It is hard to believe the whole country is as ignorant as the posters on this board.
I know you can't be serious since all you want is to insult Argentina and score “points” with the argies here (that is your life essentially), but tell me...
Why would be sign any treaties with YOU or the Europeans when you propose 0% barriers for your cars, clothes, and cell phones, but 200% barriers for agricultural products, organics, steel, and refined products?
You would not sign such a deal, why should we?
0%
www.fas.usda.gov/info/factsheets/ChileFTA/fruits.html
It is unfortunate for Argentina that you're lazy and can't make stuff as cheaply as we can but that is your own fault. If you were productive you wouldn't be having nearly as many economic problems as you have had in the last 75yrs.
Look up the CATO institute. They are a completely laissez-faire institute.
They admitted that the USA and Europe, when taking all the farmer subsidy money and bills, the Ethanol lobby, the “health” restrictions, and the restrictions on supply, that food prices are almost 200% higher than they should be. People are starving in Africa because Europe and the USA have made corn so expensive by using for other purposes, and restricting the growth of wheat in favor of other crops (Argentina was also criticized for helping in the high prices by cutting wheat hectares).
There is no free trade for Argentina. Chile and Colombia can sign them because they don't grow anything, except for coffee and chile pears and grapes.
Those are peanuts vs the big crops corn/soy/wheat/oats/barley/sorghum. That's why we don't sign anything, we drop our tariffs and you drop none. Forget it.
Your increased tariffs is killing your economy all these restrictions your President is making trying to control the price of food through import/export restrictions has KILLED the farmers. It has has made so many imbalances it will take a decade to fix once she is gone. The cattle stock is decimated, in a couple years you'll be importing beef. You may have to import wheat this year for gosh sakes! The first time EVER! In a country that is a net exporter of Ag products. It is hard to destroy a business with that much going for it but she did it.
Argentina is know for poor products, overpaid and lazy employees. You have only learned to export with the help of Gen modified Soy/Corn before that existed you always had trade imbalances.
I don't see how you'll ever fix it,
It is beyond repair with the current thinking of your Society.
And why would we trust the USA to determine what is dumping or not? Please you have such a completely quixotic view of yourself. Your country cheats and steals in trade like all others.
You import trillions per year because you have 330 million people. That is no accomplishment.
I guess we had trade imbalances in the 1880s- 1940s when we amassed the world's biggest gold reserves and the Argentine peso was the 4th most trade currency... you fool lol.
We don't determine the dumping the WTO does which btw is another case you will lose shortly.
“the USA and UK was running your country up to Peron tha is why it was run right”
explain how.
“Chile and Colombia can sign them because they don't grow anything, except for coffee and chile pears and grapes. Those are peanuts vs the big crops corn/soy/wheat/oats/barley/sorghum. ”
Really?
Well our peanuts exports are worth USD 25 billion.
$95 of our exports go to countries with which we have a FTA.
You often seem to be under some illusion that Argentina has a sophisticated economy that would suffer from FTAs. You are basically a farming economy.
Earlier in the year he was crowing that “ I have a/c in every room of my house”
pathetic
Too bad that A/C needs electricity to work though...ah there's the rub
No need for electricity for the AC at Nozzys: he has the sort that cools magically using a turncatch to work it.
It's called a window.
LOLs
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