British investigative outlet declassifieduk.org has just released more information on “how Britain allowed Pinochet to escape justice for his atrocities” . The events revolve around the 25th anniversary of the UK government led by Labour’s Tony Blair allowing the former Chilean dictator to evade extradition to Spain by feigning terminal illness and dementia, concocted by the British themselves. Declassified files reveal how the decision was made.
On 2 March 2000, Augusto Pinochet walked unsteadily onto the runway at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire and boarded a Chilean air force plane, marking his final steps on British soil.
The former dictator had just been declared unfit to stand trial by British Home Secretary Jack Straw and was allowed to return to Chile with immediate effect.
Pinochet had spent the previous 16 months under house arrest in Britain , awaiting the outcome of a Spanish extradition request for human rights violations committed under his regime.
Between 1973 and 1988, Chilean state agents were responsible for more than 3,000 deaths or disappearances and tens of thousands of cases of torture and political detentions. Spain's request for Pinochet's extradition included charges of murder and torture.
The British government's decision to allow Pinochet to escape justice was greeted with outrage, particularly after the despot appeared to show miraculous signs of recovery upon his arrival in Santiago.
Many suspected that a political deal had been struck to allow Pinochet to return to Chile under cover of a controversial medical report stating that he had been unable to give instructions to his lawyers.
Newly declassified files now show how the legal process had been complicated by a secret deal made with Pinochet by Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s.
Thatcher, the files suggest, had promised the dictator medical assistance in Britain in return for Chile's military and intelligence support during the Malvinas War in 1982.
The documents also show how the idea of releasing Pinochet for health reasons had been discussed at length behind closed doors, as Chilean authorities pressed for a “humanitarian” solution to the crisis.
Jeremy Corbyn , an MP and prominent supporter of the campaign for Pinochet’s extradition, commented: “All along there was pressure to allow Pinochet to return… A fabrication was developed about his health and we were told he was a man who was losing his memory, that age was catching up with him and that he would be unfit to stand trial.”
"It would be embarrassing if this came to light"
The arrest warrant against Pinochet was executed shortly before midnight on 16 October 1998 at the London Clinic , a private hospital in the capital of England.
It was broadcast so late at night because “intelligence indicated that Pinochet planned to leave the hospital and the country imminently,” said a declassified briefing note from the Metropolitan Police.
Plainclothes British officers stationed at the hospital were also “discreetly armed” to prevent Pinochet ’s “assisted escape from police custody” to the nearby Chilean embassy.
As police officers carried out their legal duties, news of Pinochet's arrest began to reach Whitehall, sparking frantic internal discussions that foreshadowed a possible political storm.
One of the most notable dispatches was sent to the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair by his principal private secretary, John Holmes , on the day of Pinochet's arrest .
"You should be aware that the Spanish authorities have requested the extradition of General Pinochet, who is currently in London receiving medical treatment ," Blair was told.
“The situation is more complicated than it appears,” Holmes continued. “We apparently have an agreement with him for some time, due to our cooperation with the Chileans against Argentina at the time of the Malvinas crisis, that we would assist him with medical treatment in London.”
Holmes observed ominously: “It would obviously be embarrassing if all this came to light.”
Fearing Argentine expansionism, the Pinochet regime had provided Britain with military and intelligence support during the Malvinas War in exchange for lucrative arms deals that included the sale of Hawker Hunter jets and Canberra photo-reconnaissance aircraft, the paper says.
Several files on the Chilean regime's support for Britain during the war remain classified by the UK Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office.
Despite these complications, Holmes was cautiously optimistic about the Pinochet case . “Hopefully this might all come to nothing,” he told Blair .
Holmes added: "The Home Office shares my view that it is best if the extradition request goes nowhere," apparently betraying Jack Straw 's initial position on the matter.
Compassionate motives
Holmes 's optimism was misplaced.
Pinochet was placed under house arrest while British courts deliberated on how to proceed with the extradition request. The House of Lords issued a landmark ruling that former heads of state could not enjoy immunity from prosecution for the most serious international crimes.
Throughout this period, Chilean authorities constantly pressured the UK government to release Pinochet on “humanitarian” grounds, while stressing that UK-Chile relations would be damaged if Pinochet were extradited, the declassified files show.
In November 1998, Chilean Foreign Minister José Miguel Insulza met British ministers in Downing Street and informed them that his government “wanted to advocate liberation on humanitarian grounds.”
Pinochet was “a sick 83-year-old man” and “should be released” for health reasons, he said.
Insulza also noted that “Chile had better relations with the United Kingdom than with any other European country for 150 years,” and that these relations would be damaged by any decision to approve Pinochet ’s extradition.
Chilean Senate President Andrés Zaldívar also put pressure on the UK government to release the former dictator on humanitarian grounds.
In early December, Zaldívar told Blair that the Senate had given him “unanimous backing” to push for Pinochet ’s release, stressing how “political and humanitarian factors” should be used to reject extradition.
The Chilean authorities' arguments were supported in some respects by internal legal advice provided to Blair and Straw .
On 27 November 1998, Cabinet Minister Charles Falconer informed Downing Street that Straw's decision on extradition should take into account issues such as “ Pinochet's health” and “the effect on other countries… if they felt their former leaders might take that risk”.
Falconer , who is married to the daughter of the former British ambassador to Chile, David Hildyard , added: “The merit of dealing with it now is that coming back now would probably be easier than after a long court battle in which atrocities were detailed and Pinochet lost.”
'Extreme national danger'
It was not only the Chilean authorities who pushed for Pinochet's release.
Margaret Thatcher wrote to Blair on 25 November 1998 to state that “the right decision now is to act quickly to release him and allow him to return home”.
Pinochet was “an old and sick man who should only be spared out of compassion what the future might otherwise bring,” he said.
Referring to the Malvinas War , Thatcher added that “it could only damage the reputation of this country if it were known that those, like Senator Pinochet, who were our close friends in times of extreme national danger, could subsequently expect to be treated in this way.”
Even the Vatican intervened, obviously during the papacy of John Paul II.
A few weeks after Pinochet 's arrest, the Holy See's equivalent of a foreign minister wrote to Blair to stress his belief that "there are all the requirements for a humanitarian gesture in favour of an 83-year-old man who is ill and who had gone to London for a serious operation."
In mid-1999, the combined pressure on the UK government to release Pinochet appeared to bear fruit when an agreement was reached between Chile, France, Spain and the UK for Straw to reject the extradition request and “return Pinochet home on ‘humanitarian grounds’”.
UK Foreign Secretary Robin Cook reportedly told his Spanish counterpart Abel Matutes that he “would not let [Pinochet] die in Britain”, to which Matutes replied: “I will not let him come to Spain.”
After his return to Chile, Pinochet became the target of numerous legal proceedings related to human rights violations and corruption. However, he was never convicted and died in 2006.
