Hugh O’Shaughnessy, the admired journalist known for his reporting on Latin America, has died aged 87.
The former Observer correspondent won a series of awards during an illustrious career largely spent covering the rapidly changing social and political landscape of South America.
He was perhaps best known for his courageous coverage of the coup by Augusto Pinochet, when the military dictator seized power in Chile in 1973. Choosing to stay on in Santiago to cover the fallout of the coup, O’Shaughnessy went on to document Pinochet’s authoritarian rule, during which tens of thousands of opponents were tortured.
The Irish journalist also wrote a number of books and, in 1977, founded the Latin America Bureau, an online and print publisher of independent news about the region’s struggles for social and environmental justice. In total, O’Shaughnessy covered events on the continent for more than 40 years.
His eldest child, Frances, 60, paid tribute to a fearless character who was an inspiration to his four children.
“He always did what was right, he always called it out. And he had a fantastic sense of humour, he was a real life force.”
She also said that behind the image of the intrepid foreign correspondent was a kind man whose primary interest was meeting people.
“There was a real human kindness to him. He was immensely interested in people, where they were from, the kind of lives they were living.”
O’Shaughnessy died peacefully on Tuesday last week. His wife, Georgina, died in 2011.