EL Mercurio is the leading newspaper in Chile and carries a high reputation throughout South America. Imagine then the horror among the small Irish community when they read an article last month linking Ireland to terrorist activity, in Chile itself and internationally, and implying that we are constantly at war.
The last part translates thus: "Many years of fighting on the island have infiltrated violence and terrorism into every segment of Irish society. Thus it should come as no surprise that it is frequently difficult to differentiate political action from armed confrontation. Perhaps this could explain the help given on humanitarian grounds by Irish religious congregations to Marxist terrorism in Chile during the military government.
"Once the democratic regime was reinstated in 1990 the belligerent clerical situation calmed down, in part due to the visit of Her Excellency the President of the Republic of Ireland, Mrs Mary Robinson, and later of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Dick Spring. Now, terrorist violence seems to be surfacing again. This violence has been part of Irish life since the turn of the century and goes back to serious disagreements between the Eamon Valera, who would later become president, and other officials who mistakenly thought that armed violence was to defeat Great Britain.
What on earth do the Chileans mean?