Santiago — The hundreds of Chileans who sought asylum in Mozambique during the dark days of the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet have not forgotten their adopted homeland, but turned out en masse to welcome Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Friday night, as he concluded his three day official visit to Chile.

The meeting between Guebuza's delegation and the former exiles turned into a party, with the Chileans showing that they still remember the Mozambican revolutionary songs they learnt in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The sumptuous Chilean restaurant in which this reception was held resounded to the rhythms of African songs and dances - but performed by those Chileans who had found a warm welcome in newly independent Mozambique, after they were forced to flee from their homeland, converted into a gigantic torture chamber by the US-imposed regime of Pinochet and his fellow butchers.

Links forged then still bind tight. AIM spoke to one couple who lived in Mozambique, and whose two daughters both married Mozambicans. The couple returned to Mozambique a few months ago to see their four Mozambican grandchildren.

"Now I have merged the two countries and live in both of them spiritually". remarked this elderly Chilean. Others at the party were born in Mozambique, and spent their childhood there. Boriana, who left Mozambique when she was eight years old, told AIM that, although she is now 27, she still feels more Mozambican than Chilean, and is considering returning to Mozambique.

Briefing the Mozambican journalists who accompanied this visit, Guebuza said that the visit had certainly been worthwhile, judging by the emotions displayed by the Chileans he had met, including the country's leadership. He thought everything indicated that the four social and economic cooperation agreements signed during the visit will not become dead letters.

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