Hugh O’Shaughnessy engineered and oversaw efforts in Mexico to deal with corruption in a body set up by the UN and the Organization of American States to advance peasant communities throughout Latin America.
He got those of us involved to work with the human rights advocate Samuel del Villar, who was in charge of the anti-corruption campaign that marked the early days of Miguel de la Madrid’s presidency in the 1980s. It led to improvements in the organisation and we were able to reverse the expulsion order placed on an eminent Dutch agronomist. Del Villar called Hugh the “Irish saint”.
Charles Posner
As an undergraduate in 1973 I learned a great deal about events in Chile from the reports of Hugh O’Shaughnessy. I was delighted, during a recent visit to the excellent Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (Museum of Memory and Human Rights) in Santiago, to see that his first report on the Pinochet coup was prominently displayed.
Those who established the museum appreciated how important his reports were in raising awareness abroad of the terrible events that were taking place there.
Keith Johnston
