Chilean refugees
Sir: Your leader on Chile (December 8) is as intemperate as it is inaccurate. (The President of the Chilean Junta is General (not Admiral) Pinochet (not Pinrochet).) If, like me, you had visited Chile since the coup and met some of the victims of the butchery you would not dismiss the protests in this country as " mindless agitation," Neither, if you had studied the British Government's attitude to prospective Chilean refugees, could you possibly characterise it as a decision to make Britain a "dumping ground for
the dissident citizens of a South American state." The British Government's reply to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (see Hansard, Written Answers, col 518, November 22, 1973) said "Her Majesty's Government is in no position to accept refugees from Chile. . .
Nevertheless the British Government is willing exceptionally to consider some applications on an individual basis......
By trying to make Chilean refuaees like the Ugandan Asians before them — into a political issue before they even come here, the Trendy Right is making another mean and xenophobic attack on the traditionally liberal and humanitarian standards of life in this country. Meanwhile, Trendy Lefties divert their indignation on to Foreign Office officials and 'mandarins,' and find their scapegoats. The very real and deplorable suffering of thousands of Chileans can thus comfortably be forgotten by both sides.
David Stephen 18 Tregarvon Road, London SW11
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