Supporters of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet are using telemarketing to raise money to pay for his legal fees and other expenses he has accrued since being arrested in the United Kingdom on a Spanish extradition warrant. According to published reports, these efforts have raised in excess of ¤3 million so far.
The Augusto Pinochet Foundation, which is behind the campaign, claims to have copied the idea from U.S. fundraisers. The foundation makes up to 15,000 calls a day to residents of Santiago, Chile. Donors can authorize the telephone company to bill them up to 10,000 pesos (about ¤21). The donation is then forwarded to the foundation.
So far, the campaign has managed to pay Pinochet’s bills, although the bulk of the donations have reportedly come from private supporters in the business sector.
In addition to legal fees and living expenses-Pinochet is in what might be best described as town house arrest-the former dictator’s defenders have hired Sir Tim Bell, of Bell Pottinger, for a reported ¤326,000 to counter “23 years of Marxist propaganda.” Bell Pottinger, a public relations firm with ties to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom in general and Margaret Thatcher in particular, also aided pro-Pinochet Chilean candidate Hernan Buchi in the 1989 elections.
Pinochet reportedly had tea with Thatcher shortly before his arrest by the British police.
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