Gordon Hutchinson papers

Gordon Hutchinson volunteered in the CORFO (Chilean Economic Development Agency) reforestation project in Iquique from 1971 to 1972. He studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Edinburgh before moving to Chile. From 1972 to 1973 he attended the University of Concepción’s School of Sociology, although the School was temporarily closed in 1973 due to the political situation in the country. Hutchinson returned to the UK in early 1973. Following the 1973 Chilean military coup overthrowing the democratic socialist President Salvador Allende and his Popular Unity coalition government, Hutchinson volunteered with the Chile Solidarity Campaign (CSC), serving as the CSC Local Committees Organiser, and with the Chile Committee for Human Rights (CCHR) from 1973 to 1974, when the Joint Working Group (JWG) was established. From 1974 to 1980, he served as the National Joint Coordinator of the Joint Working Group for Chilean Refugees (later renamed the Joint Working Group for Latin American Refugees). In these various roles, Hutchinson was involved in numerous Latin American organisations and coordinating committees created to address specific needs, such as those supporting the Latin American Centre (LAC) and The Contemporary Archive on Latin America (CALA). He also helped coordinate events and campaigns with Academics for Chile (AFC), Amnesty International UK, and the Human Rights Committees in Uruguay, Argentina, and other Latin American countries. In 1981, Hutchinson co-produced a BBC2 television program, They Came in the Morning, as part of the Open Door Series. The program focused on the military coup and the resettlement of Latin American refugees in the UK. From 1981 to 1982, after the JWG lost its funding due to cuts by the Conservative government, Hutchinson became the Founder and Coordinator of the El Salvador Committee for Human Rights (ESCHR).