Carlos Remigio Cardoen Cornejo (born 1 May 1942,

Santa Cruz, Chile Santa Cruz is a Chilean city and commune, located in the Colchagua valley, in the O'Higgins Region, located on the southern shore of the Tinguiririca river, 110 miles from Santiago, Chile's capital city, and 27 miles from San Fernando. History T ...

) is a Chilean

arms dealer The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servi ...

metallurgical engineer Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

, weapons scientist and

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

businessman. Cardoen rose to prominence amidst the United States

arms embargo An arms embargo is a restriction or a set of sanctions that applies either solely to weaponry or also to "dual-use technology." An arms embargo may serve one or more purposes: * to signal disapproval of the behavior of a certain actor * to maintain ...

against Chile, when he became in the 1980s "Pinochet's favourite arms manufacturer". When

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

fell out of favor with the United States in connection with the 1990

invasion of Kuwait The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of the country. The invasion and Ira ...

Cardoen, who had weapon dealings with Iraq, was accused by the US of zirconium trafficking. Since then he has been on the

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

wanted list. On various occasions Cardoen has received support from National Congress and the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

to end the Interpol arrest warrant.

Weapons industry

250px, Carlos Cardoen meeting with former President of Iraq, Iraqi President

As a weapons expert he ran FAMAE in the late 1980s. He allegedly illegally sold zirconium supplemented armaments to Iraq under the Saddam Hussein, Saddam Regime, exported from the United States, for which he has an international

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

. Yet, Cardoen claims the United States was aware and implicitly consented this trade until Saddam Hussein fell out of favour. During the height of the Beagle crisis in 1978 Cardoen was contacted by

Chilean Air Force "With full speed to the stars" , colours = Indigo White , colours_label = , march = Alte Kameraden , mascot = , anniversaries = 21 March ...

commander

Fernando Matthei Fernando Matthei Aubel (11 July 1925 – 19 November 2017) was a Chilean Air Force general who was part of the military junta that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, replacing the dismissed Gustavo Leigh as commander-in-chief of the Chilean Air F ...

and designed on his request a light bomb, that could be dropped from any airforce plane, in only 15 days. When asking Matthei what did he want the bomb for, he reportedly answered: ''"para joder"' (to joke around)'. In the mid-1980 Cardoen bought the Italian swimmer delivery vehicle and minisub manufacturer

Cos.Mo.S Cos.Mo.S, officially Costruzione Motoscafi Sottomarini s.a.s, was an Italian submarine and submersible manufacturer. History 250px, Carlos Cardoen meeting with former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein Cos.Mo.S was started in 1954 by Sergio Puccia ...

. His attempts to sell the firm under the table to Iraq ended in scandal and the closure of the company. A warrant was issued for his arrest, but he was never brought to justice. Cardoen claims Iraq owes him US$50 million from weapon purchases.

Agriculture and tourism

From the 1990s onwards Cardoen has invested capital into the wine, energy, match, fruit juice and tourism businesses in Chile, especially in O'Higgins, his home region. Due to his involvement in cultural and tourism projects he has been awarded the "Premio a lo Chileno" in 2006 and "Orden al Mérito Docente y Cultural Gabriela Mistral" in 2005. He has been suffering from

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

for many years.

References

External links

Museo de Colchagua official website
* *
The Chilean Connection"Scoop: Ecco come il Sismi doveva rapire Carlos Remigio Cardoen" ("Scoop: Here's how The Sismi was to kidnap Carlos Remigio Cardoen")
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoen, Carlos 1942 births 20th-century Chilean businesspeople 20th-century Chilean engineers Cos.Mo.S Fugitives Instituto Regional Federico Errázuriz alumni Chilean people of Belgian descent Living people People from Santa Cruz, Chile Weapons scientists and engineers Arms traders

Weapons industry

Agriculture and tourism

See also

References

External links