Episode Notes

A CIA-backed coup. A hidden Australian connection. And a suburban nanny with a secret past.

In Part Two of Unmasking the Alleged Torturer Turned Bondi Nanny, Uruguayan-Australian journalist Florencia Melgar takes us inside her extraordinary interview with Adriana Rivas — a former member of Augusto Pinochet’s secret police, accused of some of the dictatorship’s most brutal crimes.

While living in Sydney’s Bondi, working as a nanny, Rivas was wanted in Chile for crimes against humanity. In a rare and revealing conversation, she describes how she fled Chile while on bail — paying smugglers to escape through the Andes before returning to Australia, where she had lived since the late 1970s.

In this episode, we hear how Rivas justifies torture, glorifies a brutal regime, and reflects on the power she once held.

More on this story:

• The Other 9/11

• ABC Foreign Correspondent, Facing the Past

• More on Australia’s involvement in Chile: 'Last thing he wanted was to embarrass the CIA': Inside Whitlam's 'agonising' decision to shut Australian spy operation in Chile  

Got any tips? Email us at secretswekeep@sca.com.au.

Credits: 

• Host: Joey Watson

• Supervising Producer: Claudianna Blanco

• Sound Design: Matt Nikolic

• Head of Factual: Clair Weaver

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.