Thatcher described as "disgraceful" the idea that the Argentine president, Carlos Menem, should be welcomed to Britain this week for a service of reconciliation at St Paul's Cathedral while a man who "did so much to save so many British lives" by his support for Britain during the Falklands War should be held under arrest. One of the things she conveniently skated over was that Pinochet had only offered this support because he had his own territorial quarrel with Argentina at the time and he thought that this would stand him in good stead not only with Britain but also with the US, which had given a nod and a wink in favour of him helping out the British Task Force.

Until then, Pinochet had been happily collaborating with Argentina's military junta
in Operation Condor, a pan-Latin American campaign to crush opposition to the continent's various dictatorships. When Thatcher and others now argue that the judgement of Pinochet is an internal matter that should be left to the people of Chile, it is worth recalling that his campaign of torture and terror respected no national boundaries.

Judge Baltasar Garzon, whose request for Pinochet's extradition to Spain led to his arrest in London, outlined in an addendum to his initial arrest warrant last Tuesday the cases of 94 people who died or disappeared as a result of Operation Condor during 1976-83. Victims came from Britain, the US and a number of other countries as well as Chile. Most of them lived in Argentina. Garzon's arrest order states that Pinochet "carried out criminal activities in coordination with Argentine military authorities . . . issuing orders for the physical elimination of people, and the torture, kidnapping and disappearance of others."

One example must suffice for many others. Jose Luis Appel de la Cruz was kidnapped on 10 January 1977 as he walked down a street in the Argentine town of Cipolletti with his wife, Carmen Delard, and their daughter. "Carmen Delard disappeared at the police station in that town when she went to report her husband's disappearance," says Judge Garzon's arrest order.

A week later, Carmen Delard's sister, Gloria, was arrested at her home together with her husband Roberto Cristi and their two children. "Gloria Delard was pregnant with her third child. Federal Police agents took them to the Navy School of Mechanics, where they disappeared," Garzon's order states. The Navy School was one of the most notorious centres for torture in the Latin Americas; if the Falklands War really was about standing up to a vicious junta, as she sometimes likes to claim, Baroness Thatcher ought to have "better cause than most" to rejoice at the opportunity to expose some its activities to judicial inquiry.

But Pinochet was something more than just a useful ally at a time of military need. He was the man who held the line for free market capitalism in Latin America, the pioneer of privatisation, the mannequin of monetarism. The Daily Telegraph and others have defended the coup that brought him to power on the grounds that President Allende, whom he deposed, had only been elected on a minority of the vote and then proceeded to go well beyond what he had promised in his manifesto.

Leave aside the fact that this sort of logic would have justified a military coup to oust Margaret Thatcher when she doubled VAT after her election victory in 1979. The truth is that illegal international action to undermine and overthrow Allende commenced even before his inauguration as president. Henry Kissinger, then US President Richard Nixon's national security adviser, said at the very moment of his election success: "I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people." And a series of declassified documents released under US freedom of information legislation detail how Nixon's administration tried to foment a coup to stop Allende taking office in the first place.

Among them are handwritten notes by CIA director Richard Helms recording Nixon's orders: "l in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile!; worth spending; not concerned; no involvement of embassy; $10,000,000 available, more if necessary; full-time job--best men we have; game plan; make the economy scream; 48 hours for plan of action." These are dated 15 September 1970, more than six weeks before Allende actually acceded to office. Just in case there was any doubt about Nixon's intentions, meanwhile, in a secret cable dated 16 October 1970, the CIA deputy director of plans, Thomas Karamessines, conveyed Henry Kissinger's orders to the CIA station chief in Santiago: "It is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup."

A few days later a first abortive coup attempt failed to overturn democratic government in Chile. It was to take the covert US operations, in allegiance with the internal opponents of Allende's government, another three years to achieve their objectives. But they did not wait to see what President Allende did in office -- or if he exceeded his democratic mandate -- before deciding that they would use all means necessary to topple his Popular Unity coalition from power.

The interests of the US and international capital then were what installed Augusto Pinochet in power. The interests of justice and the international community now demand that we hold him accountable for his crimes. He may be a "good friend" of Baroness Thatcher, but he's the sort of friend that Britain can well do without.