My friend Carlos Muñoz Villalobos, who has died of cancer aged 72, was the founder of the band Caliche, a music teacher, a customs officer, a trained opera singer, a restaurateur and a businessman.
Carlos was also a political refugee. He made his home in Birmingham in 1976 after the Chilean military coup of 1973, having spent 18 months “disappeared” in prison under General Augusto Pinochet’s regime. Despite his ordeal, Carlos maintained a light-hearted attitude to this dark chapter, never wishing to be defined by it.
