The odyssey of the interview with Gorbachev and the reasons why the USSR did not condemn the illegal repression of the dictatorship

In December 1992, shortly after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev surprisingly visited Argentina.

I had the opportunity to do a long interview with him. Clarione where he admitted, for the first time, that “There was no strong Soviet defense of human rights in Argentina” during the last military dictatorship.

Was all a newspaper headline because the USSR had in fact been an ally of the dictatorship of Process, despite professing contrary ideologies during the Cold War. While Economy Minister José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz promoted grain exports to the USSR, the diplomacy of the dictatorship did not condemn the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, nor did it boycott the Moscow Olympics. And as a consequence of that agreement, the USSR did not condemn the violation of human rights in Argentina.

Aside from those statements published on December 6, 1992 in the newspaper, getting the interview was a journalistic triumph thanks to Alfonsín’s former secretary of international economic relations, Jorge “el negro” Romero. I knew him from the time I covered Chancery directed by Dante Caputo.

Romero promised me the interview but told me I had to wait because Gorbachev “was still dealing with a leader of a superpower “. He didn’t change his agenda, four Russian bodyguards like “closet” followed him everywhere and even Raysa, his wife, had to get some time stolen.

In Argentina, he gave a series of lectures and met with then-president Carlos Menem, among other activities. I did it three days of unsuccessful service in Buenos Aires, two in Mendoza – which included a trip along the Wine Route – and one in Chile, where he finally gave me the interview.

Leaving the ticket at the Conquistadores hotel in Santiago de Chile, I asked him to autograph his book “Perestroika”. I came out stunned of the interview with a leader of such experience, intelligence and who spoke three languages ​​and I forgot my hand luggage in his room. The bodyguards jumped on me thinking I left a bomb …

later I found out one of the secrets of the reasons of his tour in Argentina and Chile. Why had he agreed to come to two countries with little international weight when almost everyone asked him to give lectures?

Because the dear “black” Romero has paid all the expenses and he promised to equip his foundation in exchange for the talks he held in front of Argentine and Chilean businessmen, academics, politicians and military personnel. Romero was “in love” with the figure of the man who ended the Cold War. But he had mortgaged his assets to pay for the tour. The following year, because he could not pay off the debt, he committed suicide at the age of 50.