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Starmer appoints national security adviser who negotiated secret deal to free genocider Pinochet (skwawkbox.org)

submitted 6 days ago by RobotToaster@mander.xyz to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk

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[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Skwawkbox links to this Guardian article, which itself is sourced from a book from the time. It doesn't seem that far-fetched that a renowned negotiator would be involved with a negotiation.

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

This article Guardian article, on top of just being an allegation in a book, doesn't accuse Powell of doing what Skwawkbox says he did.

Literally all it says is that the press chief of the 1999 Chilean government (i.e. 10 years and 2 governments after Pinochet stepped down) had meetings with Powell. That's it. Seems normal to me. I imagine the UK government would be chatting to Chile if they arrested David Cameron tomorrow.

Frei and his government, by the way, was anti-Pinochet. During his presidency, he indicted and arrested Pinochet.

I don't know how you could read that and think it's a confirmation that Powell negotiated release for Pinochet.

[–] flamingos@feddit.uk 6 points 6 days ago

It absolutely argues that:

Frei argued to Blair that neither government would benefit if Pinochet were to die in England and that he could be tried in Chilean courts. […] Blair undertook to do what he could within the law provided the exchanges between the two leaders were kept secret. The authors claim that Blair suggested setting up a 'back channel', with two people appointed to liaise between the leaders' private offices.