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This verified Twitter post shows a BBC "man in the street interview" of a Chilean voter who is allegedly a relative of former dictator Augusto Pinochet.

enter image description here

I've tried to research more but the only other evidence I can find is a mention in a Hollywood Reporter article about their decision to interview Alan Dershowitz after the Ghislaine Maxwell verdict.

Is this a real screenshot from a BBC interview? If so, is Gonzalo a relative of the late dictator or is the name just a coincidence?

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  • Why does this matter? Why is this something worth being skeptical about?
    – jwodder
    Jan 5, 2022 at 20:27
  • @jwodder If you click the link, it tells you who Pinochet was.
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Jan 5, 2022 at 20:28
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    I don't see how it matters whether someone is related to a dictator deposed thirty years ago. Everyone is allowed to have relatives.
    – jwodder
    Jan 5, 2022 at 20:29
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    @jwodder What matters is that the interview is being presented as though Pinochet is just a random person they found in the street. If he is in fact the son of a right-wing dictator who infamously used to have leftists thrown out of helicopters, then he's not going to be the most unbiased person in the world to talk to about a democratically-elected leftist president, and the BBC (a supposedly unbiased organisation) would be doing a great disservice by obscuring his identity.
    – F1Krazy
    Jan 5, 2022 at 21:25
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    How close a relative does someone have to be for this to be an issue? In your opinion? And are any of the claimants actually stating what his relation is, or are they keeping it comfortably vague? The only other claim I've found says "distant cousin", which makes this a total nothingburger.
    – DJClayworth
    Jan 5, 2022 at 23:49

2 Answers 2

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I think we have reached the point where we can ask "Is the person interviewed closely enough related to Augusto Pinochet to be significant?" and give the answer "No".

Reasons:

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  • Thanks. Not really worth the downvotes and attacks I got but that's my fault for not just using Quora.
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Jan 7, 2022 at 20:37
  • One further addendum to the second reason would be: "Who is criticising the BBC for this?" Was it some random person on Twitter with three followers, or was it Ofcom?
    – GeoffAtkins
    Jan 11, 2022 at 11:34
  • @GeoffAtkins Verified Twitter account with 18k followers. Definitely enough not to be considered some random person (otherwise the downvoters would have closed this).
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Jan 11, 2022 at 15:03
  • @ComicSansSeraphim - I was talking in general, rather than this specific case and giving examples of extremes.
    – GeoffAtkins
    Jan 11, 2022 at 15:06
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The footage states Gonzalo is "a distant cousin of the former dictator.

It's unclear how distant he actually is.

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