McCain's Private Visit With Pinochet Revealed

McCain’s Private Visit With Chilean Dictator Pinochet Revealed For First Time

[quote]John McCain, who has harshly criticized the idea of sitting down with dictators without pre-conditions, appears to have done just that. In 1985, McCain traveled to Chile for a friendly meeting with Chile’s military ruler, General Augusto Pinochet, one of the world’s most notorious violators of human rights credited with killing more than 3,000 civilians and jailing tens of thousands of others…

…McCain’s presence in Chile was apparently kept as quiet as possible. He and his wife Cindy arrived December 27 and traveled immediately to the scenic Puyehue area of southern Chile to spend several days as the guest of a prominent Pinochet backer, Marco Cariola, who later was elected senator for the conservative UDI party.

The trip was arranged by Chile’s ambassador to the United States, Hernan Felipe Errazuriz. According to a contemporary government document obtained from Chile, Errazuriz arranged for a special government liaison to help McCain while in Chile for the “strictly private” visit, and described him as “one of the conservative congressmen who is closest to our embassy.”

Errazuriz also arranged the invitation for the McCains to stay at the farm of his wealthy friend, Marco Cariola, according to Cariola, who did not know McCain previously. The McCains spent the three and a half days fishing for salmon and trout and riding horses. The area is one of Chile’s most beautiful tourist attractions, with dozens of crystal clear lakes and rivers surrounded by luxurious estates such as the Cariola farm where the McCains were staying.

On December 30, McCain traveled back to Santiago for a 5 pm meeting with dictator Pinochet, followed by a meeting with Admiral Jose Toribio Merino, a member of the country’s ruling military junta.

McCain’s meeting with Pinochet in 1985 are described in a U.S. embassy cable, based on McCain’s debriefing with embassy officials:

“Most of his 30-minute meeting with the president, at which foreign minister [Jaime] Del Valle and a ministry staff member were present, was spent in discussing the dangers of communism, a subject about which the president seems obsessed. The President described Chile’s recent history in the fight against communism and displayed considerable pride in the fact that the communist menace had been defeated in Chile. The President stressed that Chile had stood alone in this battle, and complained that United States Foreign Policy had left them stranded. The congressman added that talking to Pinochet was somewhat similar to talking with the head of the John Birch Society.”

Other than to describe the warmth of the encounter, the cable does not contain any account of what McCain said to Pinochet. There is no indication that the subject of human rights or return to democracy was raised with Pinochet.[/quote]

Wow, no wonder McCain likes Uribe so much! The man’s cut from the same cloth as Pinochet, no doubt about that. If McCain gets elected I think we can expect the same kind of “accidents” to happen to Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa as happened to Panama’s Torrihos and Ecuador’s Roldos at the beginning of the Reagan administration.

In the 1980s, Chile and Argentina served as testing grounds for Neocon economic policy. The result was that the economies of both countries were run into the ground.

In 2000, the Neocons had their chance to try it out in the US, unfettered by Congress. Result: the US economy was run into the ground.

Oh dear.

Let’s not forget that the little monster (Pinochet) was not just accused of terror at home, he was also wanted by the US for what was then called “the most egregious act of international terrorism perpetrated on U.S. soil by a foreign power.”

HG

That McCain sure is a terrorist-lover. In saying that, I’m just using his own standards.

never mind McCain meeting Pinocchio, GW Bush met Nelson Mandela AT THE White House in 2005. Mandela is a terrorist, isn’t he? he sure headed a terrorist organisation, and was jailed for it for thirty years. Shame on you, Bush, for associating with criminals, and on your party for not shouting you down at the time.

Oh no, McCain has kept Bush at arms length. He wouldn’t dare go near him. :laughing:

HG

McCain’s been palling around with Bush. That’s enough for me.

Remember the movie Missing?