Sao Paulo, March 6 - Secret documents dating from Brazil's 1964-85 military government reveal that the junta gave loans amounting to $115 million to the regime of Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper said Tuesday.

The files indicate that the money was lent to Pinochet's government on "especially" favourable terms and was destined for the purchase of military equipment, the daily said.

An Oct 26, 1976, report marked "Secret" says that Brazil provided "important aid" to the Pinochet regime.

The then-secretary of the National Security Council, Gustavo Moraes Rego Reis, discussed in a Nov 9, 1978, message to military President Ernesto Geisel the division of the payments and added that the initial authorization for the loans dated to November 1974, a year after Pinochet's military coup.

The loans were aimed at providing a "guarantee for (Chile's internal security)", according to the documents.

Folha gained access to the documents in accord with Brazil's freedom of information law, signed by President Dilma Rousseff in 2011.

The law regulates access to all public documents and only allows information of a personal nature or that concerning national security to be kept secret. (IANS)