A new and revealing chapter is being written in the landscape of Latin American historiography . Chilean journalists Mauricio Palma Zárate and Daniel Avendaño Caneo are in the final stages of an exhaustive and unprecedented investigation that will give rise to a book about one of the most sensitive and least-publicized episodes in the region's recent history: the strategic, military, and intelligence support provided by the Chilean government of Augusto Pinochet to the United Kingdom during the 1982 Malvinas War .

The work, in agreement with the publishing giant Penguin Random House and scheduled for publication in the first half of 2026, goes beyond simply listing facts; it seeks to reconstruct a complex human and political history, based on concrete documentation and the testimonies of its protagonists.

Origins

The origin of this project dates back to a journalistic curiosity fueled by myths and silences . As the authors explain, their method is characterized by an unusual investigative patience. "We have always been interested in investigating circulating topics, certain myths, and we work through in-depth, exhaustive research, with no time limits. That's something that characterizes us. We don't set a time limit until we achieve what we believe is essential," they explain.

The 40th anniversary of the conflict gave them the final push, but it was a stay in London that provided the crucial starting point. “For family reasons, I had to live in London for a year, and there I went to the National Archives in London to review the documents they had. And I think it's a really good starting point.” This access to British archives, which have gone through different stages of declassification, allowed them to discover previously unpublished information: “In the last two or three years, there have been important documents to which we had access, and obviously, from that, lines of investigation opened up for us.”

For the journalists, who were just children during the war, the issue was always shrouded in silence imposed by the dictatorship. “Here in Chile, the Malvinas War was never discussed much. Because at that time, the dictatorship was effectively trying to sweep this whole thing, all this dirt, under the rug for them. So the less the country knew about it, the better for them,” they say.

Their only childhood memory was León Gieco's powerful song "Sólo le pido a Dios" (I Only Ask God) , a distant reference to a conflict they felt was alien to them. "We listened to León Gieco's song... and as a child, I remembered that it was very powerful to hear 'the big monster that stomps'—for us, it was something incredibly incredible."

That silence is precisely what their work seeks to break, transforming speculation into evidence: "What we are trying to reconstruct are multiple stories regarding Chilean support for the British, and with very specific stories, very concrete, with documentation. It is no longer a myth; there is concrete documentation," they affirm.

Strategies

The book aims to explain the reasons behind this collaboration, which for the Chilean military junta had an inescapable strategic logic. The authors cite the justification of the then Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Fernando Matthei : "The neighbor's house is burning, and I have to protect mine."

This fear of a possible Argentine invasion was not unfounded, according to his research, since "there has also been a document from the Argentine military indicating that the next step was a Chilean invasion."

The turning point that began to crack the secret was, ironically, Pinochet's arrest in London in 1998. "From that moment on, Margaret Thatcher decided as a strategic communications argument to say, 'This friend of England, Pinochet, who helped us, it's important that it be known.'"

Beyond high politics, the authors highlight the deep historical ties that facilitated this alliance. "The greatest ally that the Chilean Armed Forces have had throughout their history is precisely the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom," they explain, citing everything from the founding of the Chilean Navy by Lord Cochrane to the formation of intelligence services with MI6. "Many members of the Chilean Armed Forces did their internships in England, so it was no casual ally." This bond is even embedded in the national idiosyncrasy: "We Chileans call ourselves 'the English of Latin America'... the United Kingdom's ties to Chile have been quite close throughout history."

Protagonisms

One of the significant findings of their research is the more prominent role of the Chilean Navy , traditionally overshadowed by that of the Air Force . They discovered that Admiral José Toribio Merino , another self-confessed Anglophile who "had his great historical leader, General Nelson," was a key figure.

"The Chilean Navy was the first to alert the Chilean Military Junta that an attack on the Malvinas was imminent," they reveal. They even have documentation suggesting a major escalation: "There is a document that was even intercepted by the Argentine Armed Forces, which establishes the entire process of action that the Chilean fleet was going to carry out... and at one point it states that, if necessary, we are ready to participate in the attacks against Argentina on April 19, 1982."

Stories within history

The book will also delve into the human stories behind grand strategy. Perhaps the most poignant is the search for the identity of two Argentine soldiers rescued by the Chilean ship Piloto Pardo after the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano cruiser . "We have been working directly for the last two years trying to uncover the identity of these two Argentine heroes. It has been a very long process," they explain.

A crucial clue is a wedding ring: “One of them had a ring, he had gotten married in March 1982, that is a piece of information that could be very important for us.”

This investigative effort has been possible, they say, thanks to the surprising collaboration received from Argentina. "We are pleasantly surprised by the support we have received from Argentine sources for this investigation. They have been very kind, very open, and they are more open in Argentina than in Chile," they acknowledge, thanking former combatants, veterans, and even the Argentine armed forces themselves for their support.

Goals

The ultimate goal transcends the merely historical. The authors envision their work as a bridge between both nations. “We believe this book can be a contribution to understanding history, to understanding each other better as Chileans and Argentinians,” they reflect, alluding to the end of the chauvinistic rivalry that characterized past generations. “Our book aims at that, at a kind of rescuing of the essence of Latin America, that we are indeed sister countries,” they agree.

With an accessible journalistic narrative, they seek to reach especially the new generations for whom the Malvinas "is prehistory" , ensuring that this episode, full of secrets, complex loyalties and human dramas, "deserves to be revisited and told."

Mauricio Palma Zárate and Daniel Avendaño Caneo do not aspire to be definitive, but rather to add to the historiographical tradition with rigor and a fresh perspective, focusing on the people who, from the shadows, wrote a clandestine chapter of the war.