The Spanish government yesterday agreed to ask Britain to extradite Gen Augusto Pinochet to face charges of genocide, terrorism and torture.
The Spanish cabinet's decision to approve the extradition request, which will see it forwarded through diplomatic channels to London, prompted the Chilean government to recall its ambassador to Madrid in protest.
The decision to approve the request of Judge Baltasar Garzon, who has been investigating alleged human rights violations committed under the general's 17-year rule of Chile, was announced following a morning meeting of the Spanish cabinet.
In London, campaigners calling for the 82-year-old former dictator to be tried for alleged crimes against humanity welcomed the Spanish move. But within hours of the Spanish decision, the Chilean Foreign Minister, Mr Jose Miguel Insulza, protested by announcing that the ambassador to Madrid, Mr Sergio Pizarro, was being recalled to Santiago for consultations.
The visibly angered Foreign Minister said the Spanish government had acted "as a mere mailbox for Judge Garzon's requests".
The ambassador's recall will be temporary, as Mr Insulza pointed out that although the Spanish decision clearly affected bilateral relations with Madrid, ties would not be broken or suspended.
The Chilean government has sought to secure Gen Pinochet's release, claiming he has diplomatic immunity, and arguing that Spanish courts have no jurisdiction over events in Chile. Spain's Foreign Minister, Mr Abel Matutes, said his government regarded the whole affair as a judicial matter.
The Spanish government had criticised the judge's investigation into human rights crimes committed in Chile under Gen Pinochet's 1973-1990 rule, questioning whether he had jurisdiction. But it also promised to process an extradition request if the Madrid courts backed Judge Garzon, and last week the National Court ruled that the Spanish justice system did have jurisdiction to try crimes like those cited against Gen Pinochet.
Mr Carlos Reyes, spokesman of the London-based Chilean exiles' group, Chile Democratico, was overjoyed by the Spanish cabinet's decision. "We are absolutely delighted," said Mr Reyes. "It's very good from our point of view. For Pinochet, the judgment day is coming pretty soon."
The British House of Lords is hearing an appeal by the Crown Prosecution Service, on behalf of the Spanish authorities, against last week's decision by the High Court in London that Gen Pinochet's arrest and detention were unlawful because he enjoyed sovereign immunity.
The Spanish cabinet has formally approved steps to extradite Mr Kenneth Noye to Britain, it emerged yesterday. The Spanish Prime Minister's e Maria Aznar's Council of Ministers endorsed the proceedings on October 30th.
The move paves the way for the British case for extraditing Mr Noye - wanted by Kent Police over the "road rage" killing of Stephen Cameron in May 1996 - to be heard in Spain's high court.