24 April 1974 On 24 April 1974, Foreign Secretary James Callaghan explained to the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) why the Cabinet had decided to supply the Chilean dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet with two Leander class frigates and two Oberon submarines. They had been under construction on the Clyde when the military coup, which…
2 March 2000 On 2 March 2000, the aging dictator Augusto Pinochet was jubilant on discovering that he would be allowed to return to Chile, following the intervention of Britain’s Home Secretary Jack Straw, despite the House of Lords ruling that he should be extradited to Spain to answer charges of wholesale torture and murder….
DRAKE’S MEN PLUNDER THE PORT OF VALPARAISO [ 5 December 1578 ] On 5 December 1578, during a three year rampage around the world, Francis Drake led his men into the Spanish port of Valparaiso in what is today Chile. His English sailors first pounced on a merchant ship in the harbour, easily overpowering its…
SHIP’S CREW SAVED BUT ‘NOT EVEN ANY OF OUR CLOTHES OR ONE SLAVE.’ [ 28 October 1763 ] The London registered Phoenix was carrying 332 slaves crammed into its hold from Africa towards Maryland on the United States’ mid-Atlantic coastline. BRITAIN’S HIGH COURT – CHILE’S TYRANT PINOCHET CAN’T BE PROSECUTED [ 28 October 1998 ]…
