Exiled under Decree 504 to Panama in September 1975, he worked as a photojournalist for Revista Senda, ACAN-EFE and Associated Press documenting social and political issues in Panama and Central America including the Nicaraguan revolution and the negotiations for the handover of the Panama Canal from the United States.
In November 1979 he was kidnapped in Panama by the Chilean secret police and sent back to Chile via London where he escaped from the plane [REF].