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GV Bucharest airport
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SV Almeyda and Tapia out of aircraft and greeted
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SV Almeyda talking to Rumanian officials (2 shots)
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SV & CV Party walks across tarmac to airport building (3 shots)
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Initials BD/2359 FC/AH/BD/0030



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Former Chilean Foreign Minister Clodomiro Almeyda and ex-Justice Minister Jorge Tapia flew into the Rumanian capital, Bucharest, on Sunday (12 January) where they were granted political asylum.

The two Ministers, who were released on Friday (10 January), were imprisoned without trial after the military coup toppled the Allende Government in September, 1973. Three other Chilean officials were also released on Friday and sent into exile.

Senor Almeyda, a prominent member of the now-banned Socialist Party, had been held for nearly a year in the bleak prison on Dawson Island, at the southern-most tip of Chile. He served as Foreign Minister for almost the entire three years of Dr. Allende's Government.

He and Senor Tapia are the highest-ranking former Chilean Ministers to seek exile in Rumania, which is now the home of more than 600 Chilean refugees. The refugees have been given full welfare assistance including monthly allowances.