PROTEST IN CHILE
Bona, Agostino
PROTEST IN CHILE "The recuperation of democracy is not only a demand existing within the roots of our nation, but also constitutes its most immediate interest." These words published earlier this...
...The junta has made so many unfulfilled promises to the population- to end inflation and unemployment in 1975, for instance -that distrust is spreading also among its supporters...
...Church welfare agencies have organized child-feeding programs to fill some of the hunger gap...
...Although by U.S...
...Added to this is the Christian anti-Communist mantle Pinochet throws over his actions...
...Augusto Pinochet is mounting, with a good chance that it may force him to step down during 1976...
...Unemployment is officially at 16 percent of the three million work force with underemployment bringing the total up to at least 25 percent...
...Church people deny, however, that this means partisan political infiltration of church activities...
...The key factor in keeping Pinochet from increasing repression to retighten Chile is international public opinion which has already painted the regime with a broad, black brush...
...Civilian pressure is said to be widening the split, giving leverage to the dissidents in the battle to force out Pinochet...
...Church officials readily admit that many politi-callj active civilians, including Marxists, are active in church social work because there is no place else to go...
...They can't get a job...
...Over two years of harsh military rule have failed to eliminate the traditional democratic yearning which has molded Chilean political life for 160 years...
...Gustavo Leigh, member of Pinochet's four-man junta, to complain of continued military control of universities...
...A one-party system, with leaders drawn from the right-wing Nationalist Party, and a rubber-stamp Congress would provide the empty garments of democracy...
...A Catholic priest active in human rights work categorically states on a radio talk show that torture of political prisoners is still a fact in Chile...
...The institutional Catholic Church historically has been a tacit ally of the Christian Democrats...
...The hermetically-sealed military is believed to be split already with dissent over repression and economic policy reaching the high-ranking officer level...
...Arellano, an aide to Frei when Frei was President, was said to be a leading army dissenter...
...Since Pinochet took over, consumer prices have risen 5,000 percent...
...As a result, Pinochet is losing his iron-fisted hold on the country...
...The main domestic discontent revolves around government political violence and the economic policy, both of which have drastically affected huge segments of the population...
...These Kerenskis are not going to divide the armed forces," shouted Pinochet...
...Church activities are giving the Christian Democrats a needed outlet now that their party is prohibited from acting publicly...
...Among the numerous newspeople prohibited from entering are Latin American correspondents of Time, Newsweek, the Washington Post and the New York Times...
...When Frei's book was published, Pinochet emitted a stream of verbal invectives, comparing Frei to Kerenski, the Russian political leader who took over after the fall of the Czar and was later overthrown by the Soviets...
...standards Chile is still a hard-core dictatorship, the gradual opening of society is worrying Pinochet...
...Adoption of Milton Friedman's budget-cutting approach to solving inflation has resulted, according to a World Bank study, in Chile's "worst depression since the decade of the 1930s...
...He limited sale of the Frei book to 1,000 copies...
...Pro-government civilians publish articles strongly attacking Pinochet's depression-causing economic policy...
...Real wages in 1975 dropped 3 percent with the loss among the low-income earners being over 20 percent...
...Besides calling for a return of democracy, it advocates a revised political role for the military...
...This bad image has meant significant cut-offs in economic and military aid, notably in Western Europe and the U.S...
...Pinochet seems to be well aware of the situation and has engaged in successful barracks politicking...
...This inflexibility in the face of civilian discontent sounds like the tinkling cymbal of a man slowly losing command of the forces around him...
...These words published earlier this year in a book by ex-President Eduardo Frei, succinctly express the growing desire within Chile for a return to democracy...
...He televised an elaborate ceremony in which the leaders of the armed forces pledged loyalty to him...
...Still, the book caused a flurry of comment in the press, finally forcing Pinochet to prohibit further press coverage, even if it was against Frei...
...The strengthening of Christian Democracy is considered important by political observers, who see the Christian Democrats as an important key if the country is to return to democracy...
...The junta has no way out...
...Academics forced a meeting with Air Force Gen...
...We don't want the serene songs of the Kerenskis...
...A change must come about soon...
...These widening fissures hamper Pinochet's plans for remaking Chile in his own likeness and image...
...Despite denials, church activity is an important aid to the Christian Democrats, who draw their political inspiration from Catholic social teachings...
...Pinochet may have won some battles, but he has not defused the powder keg...
...With the entire population- only 10 million, Pinochet has managed to directly harm too many people, note Chilean political observers...
...This means a de facto political role for the Catholic Church...
...Since the beginning of 1976, criticisms of the regime-which would have been whispered privately among friends in 1975-are being made in public...
...The government is a failure...
...All are welcome, they say, as long as they abide by the Christian goals and standards of the organizations...
...Church sources say an average of 20 people daily are still being arrested or tortured...
...Sergio Arellano Stark, one of the brains behind the 1973 coup...
...A growing number of civilians hate this government...
...Newspapers and journalistic associations are protesting the tight press laws...
...Church people were Christian Democratic advisers...
...The result is widespread hunger and poverty...
...The image is so bad that Pinochet has resorted to slamming the door in the face of many foreign journalists...
...Many Christian Democrats developed their social awareness and training in church organizations...
...11, 1973 coup range to 30,000...
...AGOSTINO BONO...
...Untold numbers have fled to other countries...
...They have been tortured...
...The hope is for a transition government led by a new group of military men with Christian Democratic advisers...
...Reliable estimates of the deaths during and after the Sept...
...In the past, pastorals issued by the bishops paralleled Christian Democratic policy statements...
...Protest is growing in the universities, in the churches and in the whole country," said an experienced Chilean analyst of public opinion...
...Leading the domestic opposition is the Church, the only institution which has been consistently able to criticize the military government...
...Pinochet would like to evolve a Franco-style fascism...
...They are watching their children starve to death," explained one observer...
...Human rights sources say at least 100,000 people have been detained for a minimum of 24 hours each under the current government...
...The Catholic Church sponsors the only independent organization providing legal aid to political prisoners...
...From the beginning, Pinochet has been unable to drastically reduce the social role of the Catholic Church because about 90 percent of the population profess Catholicism...
...This opposition is not just intellectual...
...He forced the resignation of Gen...
...About 600,000 of the children under nine years old are suffering from malnutrition-induced health problems...
...They will drag us anew toward Marxism," he added...
...In the rest of the population, support is declining fast...
...They have friends or relatives who have been killed...
...Ten percent of the babies born will die of malnutrition before reaching the age of two...
...Despite continued widespread repression, the outlawing of political activity and press censorship, public discontent with the regime of Gen...
...Its main support comes from the highest social stratum which is making good business...
...This would provide the bridge to full civilian rule...
...Throw out the politicians...
...Keeping up the pretense would be hard if Pinochet squashed the country's largest Christian religion...
...It is the first post-coup detailed public statement of the internationally respected Christian Democratic leader...
...He would be the strongman...
...Within this schema, Frei's book is an important landmark...
Vol. 103 • June 1976 • No. 13
