The new Chilean ambassador to Britain and Ireland, Mr Pablo Cabrera, arrived at his office in London just over a month ago. There is no official Chilean representation in Dublin as yet, and he is still waiting to present his credentials to Queen Elizabeth and the President, Mrs McAleese.
But Mr Cabrera is already deeply involved in the process of convincing international opinion that the former dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, should be returned to Chile as a means of fostering national reconciliation.
It is arguably the most pressing challenge of his term in office, not least because the coalition government in Chile considers the return of Gen Pinochet a matter of national sovereignty and a means of completing the transitional political process which began when Gen Pinochet's military regime was removed in the early 1980s.
As Chile heads towards the possible election next month of its first socialist president since Allende, Mr Cabrera insists that the reconstruction of Chilean society and the national dialogue it has embarked upon to address its tragic past would be completed with Gen Pinochet's return.
Chile has "suffered a lot in our own past," he says, "and we have buried our own past. But we have been able to reconstruct our own democracy with the support of many foreign countries and we are grateful for it. But we would like to end up with our own transition process, according to our own rules, according to the jurisdiction, according to our law along with our commitment to human rights."
But is democracy in Chile so fragile that it would collapse if Gen Pinochet were not returned? "It is much better to have Pinochet in Chile than abroad because we are committed to solving our problems. It is much better to solve them with him, with somebody who was a key factor in the situation, to resolve the problems."
The process of "resolving" Chile's past has not been helped, Mr Cabrera says, by comments made by the former British prime minister, Baroness Thatcher, who has made several spirited attacks condemning the arrest and detention of Gen Pinochet. "I think it doesn't help, all this noise. I would rather go through more institutional channels, rather than raising the profile like a fight between the government and the opposition. But I don't think all of the Conservative Party has played the same role," he said.
The Chilean people had suffered undeniable abuses of their human rights, but Chile "is not only Pinochet", and Mr Cabrera said the willingness to commit to the courts the crimes of Gen Pinochet's regime was shared by the majority of Chileans.
At present there are 50 cases of alleged human rights abuses against Gen Pinochet being processed in Chile. The families of the disappeared, non-governmental organisations including the Fundacion de Ayuda Social de las Iglesias Cristianas (Christian Churches Aid Foundation) and the state organisation, National Corporation for Compensation and Reconciliation, have brought the cases.
Formal charges have not been brought against Gen Pinochet or any members of his regime in these cases, but a legal correspondence has been forwarded to the British Home Office and to Gen Pinochet seeking a preliminary statement.
If Gen Pinochet was returned to Chile, his immunity from prosecution as a senator could be withdrawn, said Mr Cabrera, pointing to the case of a former Chilean senator who was stripped of his immunity two months ago over charges brought against him of alleged financial irregularity.
Gen Pinochet's immunity from prosecution in Chile is in doubt because the interpretation of Chile's Amnesty Law No 2191 was substantially modified last year when the Supreme Court endorsed kidnapping as a permanent crime until the victim was found dead or alive. Amnesty requests were therefore time-barred until the investigation to discover who was responsible for the kidnappings was exhausted.
However, that still leaves the question of whether the crimes alleged against Gen Pinochet can ever be proved in Chile or whether he would ever stand trial. The crucial issue for Chile is, however, that it is allowed to resolve its own problems and that depends in part on protecting its sovereignty by insisting on Gen Pinochet's return, said Mr Cabrera. "We have had some shortcomings, but we have learned from our own faults," he said.