The packed crowd was still cheering a Chilean folk group, Inti Illimani, at the Royal Festival Hall in London last month when special guest Mr Tony Blair told his Chilean exile hosts: "As long as I am prime minister of Britain, Pinochet will not enter this country."
Less than a month later, Mr Blair had allowed Gen Pinochet into London for back surgery in the London Clinic. His Chilean military minders guarded his room round the clock but there was little reason to suspect anything out of the ordinary.
A member of the hospital staff leaked news of Gen Pinochet's presence to the media and events were set in motion, resulting in an extradition request, an arrest warrant and a major diplomatic row.
While legal experts examine the ins and outs of the case, and Chilean authorities firmly request that Britain mind its own business, it is precisely business interests which have linked the dictator to Britain since the day he took office in September 1973, destroying Latin America's oldest democracy.
British-built Hawker jets bombed the presidential palace on the day of the coup, ending President Salvador Allende's rule. Baroness Thatcher threw Gen Pinochet a diplomatic lifeline in the 1980s, a move which was reciprocated with the purchase of British weapons and key logistical aid during the Falklands war.
"We would not have got to where we did - winning it - without his help," said Sir Charles Powell, Baroness Thatcher's former foreign policy adviser, commenting on the Pinochet crisis this week.
By the end of this week, the growing diplomatic pressure to release Gen Pinochet had led the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, to announce that whatever the outcome of the Spanish extradition request, Gen Pinochet may be sent home on compassionate grounds.
While Gen Pinochet officially retired as armed forces chief last march, he continues to act as Chilean arms buyer and is currently considering an option to buy 16 new combat aircraft for £600 million, with British Aerospace a potential beneficiary.
There is also the prospect of selling three surplus British navy frigates to the general, all of which is likely to be cancelled should he remain indefinitely at her majesty's pleasure.
Before he stood down from power, Gen Pinochet awarded himself a lifetime seat in the Chilean senate, the very institution he closed down 25 years ago. He also imposed an effective veto over new legislation as 10 of the 48 senate seats are designated ones, falling to the general's allies. While the parties of the centre and left have convincingly won every election since 1988, that popular majority does not translate into effective legislative control.
Baroness Thatcher and her conservative allies credit Gen Pinochet with a free market "economic miracle" in Chile, yet independent research reveals a polarised nation, with increased hunger and hardship and a growing disparity between rich and poor.
Gen Pinochet approved extended torture for his opponents, setting up concentration camps where electric cattle prods broke minds and bodies, where women were raped by dogs and people repeatedly run over by vehicles.
The request for extradition is being made under the European Convention on Extradition, brought into force in the UK in 1991. The most significant aspect of the law is that Gen Pinochet has only to be identified at Bow Street court for the British authorities to hand him over.
If the extradition order is approved by the British courts, then the final decision on whether he should be sent to Spain to face trial will rest with Mr Straw. By then, British lawyers will proceed with their own civil case against Gen Pinochet with the aid of Chilean refugees and Amnesty International using the 1988 Criminal Justice Act.
For more information on human rights in Chile, consult two websites www.chip.cl and www.derechoschile.com
