People of Lanarkshire thanked for helping family who fled Pinochet's brutal military dictatorship in Chile

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A mum-of-five who arrived in Scotland in the 1970s as a teenage refugee from South America has thanked the people of Lanarkshire who opened their homes and their hearts to her family.Olga Calderon, 62, who now lives and works in Carluke, travelled from Chile less than two years after a brutal military coup d'état led by dictator General Augusto Pinochet which started 50 years ago this week.Chile’s President Salvador Allende, a democratic socialist, died at the presidential palace which was under attack.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android The circumstances of his death were disputed, but years later an autopsy ruled he had shot himself with an AK47 rather than surrender to those he described as “traitors”.Olga’s father Leonidas Calderon was arrested while at work because of his political beliefs.

He was one of tens of thousands of Chilean citizens herded into the Estadio Nacional football ground in Santiago.Thousands of those who were held were either executed or disappeared.

Leonidas was tortured, and survived being sent to a concentration camp in the desert where he watched others die due to extreme heat and exhaustion.He was transferred back to the football stadium where he was told he would be freed but ordered to leave the country.