Recently seeing “Pinochet - Free Helicopter Ride” t-shirts was a bit of an unknown for me. My first knowledge of “Free Rides” comes from the “Dirty War - Guerra Sucia” of 1974-1983 in Argentina. The phrase “Flying Nuns” was used denote the execution of an unknown number of Catholic nuns by tossing them from a helo.
The Dirty War was basically government action against socialists. Different sources claim different numbers but during “The Dirty War”, “The Disappeared – Los Desaparecidos”, Argentine citizens abducted by military or government police, may number as high as 30,000. Of that number an estimated 1,500-2,000 were tossed out of aircraft into rivers or the Atlantic Ocean. Some victims were already dead but others were in a drugged state.
Much of the confinement-interrogations-executions occurred at the former Navy School of Mechanics in Buenos Aires. It’s infamy is on par with that of Prinz-Albrechtstrasse in Berlin or Lubyanka Prison in Moscow.
Some speculation that citizen pressure on the Argentine government due to their Dirty War resulted in the Falklands – Malvinas War of 1982. Government tried to unite citizens with a war and losing both conflicts, got both sides of their ass kicked.
Yes, the Argies were guilty of about six times as many “desaperdecedos” (?) as always-getting-the-blame Chile.