AS your opinion headline (LET, October 23) noted, "There must be no political deal on Pinochet."

I agree entirely with what you wrote and would like to add to it by reminding people that the Pinochet regime, with the aid of the American CIA, overthrew the democratically-elected government of Chile and killed President Allende.

Victor Jara, the Chilean musician was among those killed for his opposition to the illegal regime. First, they tortured him, then they broke all his fingers so that he couldn't play his guitar. Then they killed him.

It must also be remembered, that Sheila Cassidy, a British subject living in Chile, was tortured to try to make her give information.

Mrs Thatcher and Pinochet don't spoil a pair. What does she care about the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Chile, resulting in thousands being tortured and killed?

She knows all about the destruction of democratic institutions. It was she who abolished the right to belong to a longtime, legal trade union at the Cheltenham Communications Headquarters and, as your last paragraph conjectures, I believe "she would have had the tanks rumbling around our streets" had she been put to the test by those she had already designated as "the enemy within."

ALBERT J MORRIS, Clement View, Nelson.

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