photo: France 24
A new leak promises to heighten the already troubled Vatican. New documents show that the Vatican once dismissed the reports of Pinochet's campaign of terror and the killing of dissidents as "Communist propaganda".
The leak comes in the wake of a release of US intelligence and diplomatic documents that go back to the 1970s.
In one of the cables leaked, dated 10.18.1973, that sent to Washington by the US Embassy to the Vatican details a conversation with the then Secretary of the Vatican State, G. Benelli, in which Benelli states that it "is his and the Pope's grave concern over successful international leftist campaign to misconstrue completely realities of the Chilean situation." The cable was sent to then US secretary of State H. Kissinger.
Benelli tried to obfuscate the truth about Pinochet's campaign of terror by labelling it an overblown communist campaign to exaggerate the truth about events in Chile at the time.
Beneli, in the same cable admits that "...unfortunately it is natural during a coup d'etat, there has admittedly been bloodshed during mopping up [It. by writer] procedures in Chile.
But Benelli took care to add that he believed "...that stories alleging brutal reprisals in international media are unfounded."
The cable refers to a period five weeks after Pinochet took power, when thousands of Allende supporters and dissidents were jailed or killed.
The cable also uncovered how later on, when the Vatican realized the scope of the brutalities meted by the dictator, it still refused to criticize Pinochet and never severed diplomatic relations with the junta.
Source: France 24/ 4.8.13
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