A report by Jonathan Franklin, on the arrest of a retired military intelligence officer in Chile ‘for his role in the execution of the American film-maker Charles Horman, whose death during the 1973 military coup became the focus of the film Missing’, contains the following detail:
Recently unearthed papers in the Chilean military archives show that Horman’s arrest was closely monitored by the US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, whose responses to questions about his knowledge of the affairs have failed to satisfy the victim’s lawyers.According to the report, Horman had been researching the role of the US government in fomenting a coup in Chile.Gen Pinochet’s part in Horman’s death is also being re-examined: the courts are considering a human rights lawyer’s request to interview him about it.
Mr Corvalán [the lawyer acting for Horman’s widow] said Horman’s death had been “completely avoidable”. He said the newly discovered memoranda showed that US officials could have saved his life.