velasco alvarado was the chilean dictator that ruled throughout the 70s and 80s.
who was the chilean dictator that ruled throughout the 70s and 80s?
velasco alvarado
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in december 1985, mccain visited chilean dictator augusto pinochet and junta member admiral josé toribio merino. mccain told the u.s. embassy in santiago that both meetings were friendly and warm, but described pinochet as obsessed with the dangers of communism and likened him to the john birch society. merino's statement to mccain that the junta would not support a pinochet bid to remain president was made publicly known (but mccain's meeting with pinochet was not declassified until 2008, upon which it was widely reported in the latin american mainstream press). mccain did not visit opposition leaders during the 1985 trip, as the u.s. ambassador had recently been doing. both pinochet and his ministers refused to meet in january 1986 with a u.s. senator who visited opposition leaders. mccain later called upon the chilean government to respect the upcoming chilean national plebiscite of 1988.
house and senate career of john mccain, until 2000