Business as usual

...Indeed, church-state relations in Chile are fraught with tensions...

...The church in Chile will continue to be an important and invigorating actor in Chilean politics...

...The pope's visit to Chile, promised to the Chilean military government following the successful papal mediation of a territorial dispute with Argentina in 1978, was controversial from start to finish...

...In their testimonies, Luisa Riveros and Mario Mejfas had spoken of living conditions in the slums, including alcoholism, prostitution, drugs, government repression, and the difficult access to education and health services...

...and 14.3 percent felt neither the government nor the opposition was favored by the visit...

...REPORT FROM CHILE BUSINESS AS USUAL LIFE AFTER THE POPE'S VISIT In his April 1-6 visit to Chile, Pope John Paul II gave thirty speeches before audiences totaling over two million Chileans, not counting those who lined the streets to glimpse him...

...Luisa Riveros and her five children, who live in the shan-tytown of Violeta Parra, have been threatened and under surveillance since she testified at the same La Bandera meeting...

...Military police detained CBS correspondent Leopoldo Correa and partially destroyed his equipment...

...Those who spoke out publicly during the pope's visit were particularly susceptible...

...and prohibited pastoral programs...

...The Chilean government currently is programing a plebiscite to take place by 1989 to ratify a single military-approved candidate, most likely Pinochet himself...

...18.2 percent felt it was more favorable to the government...

...27 percent felt it was more favorable to the opposition...

...If the last two months are any indication, government persecution of its opponents is not likely to be altered as a result of the pope's visit...

...The church is not neutral, it is with the people," commented Renato Hevia, editor of a prestigious Jesuit monthly.' 'If relations between the church and government are bad, it is because the relations between the government and the people are bad...

...In its most recent efforts to neutralize the church's authority, the government has aimed to isolate and discredit individuals and bishops who are particularly critical...

...In April and May, dozens of dissidents received death threats...

...Unidentified men in civilian clothes provoked an incident at a tourist hotel, assaulting the New York Times reporter for the Vatican, Roberto Suro...

...detained thousands of lay people, priests, and nuns...

...In the last four years, it has given medical assistance to 14,000 victims of political repression...

...UPI's Santiago correspondent, Anthony Boadle, had his home broken into and documentation and a computer stolen...

...Harassment and detention of Vicariate staff continued after the pope's departure...

...On May 22, the Chilean Bishops' Conference urged the military government authorities to "advance decisively in the patriotic duty of opening the doors to a true democracy...

...Virginia m. bouvier Virginia M. Bouvier is a senior associate with the Washington Office on Latin America...

...They briefly recovered a piece of their 150-year-old tradition of democracy, destroyed by the Pinochet coup of September 1973...

...During his trip, the pope affirmed Vatican support for the work of the Vicariate, 374: Commonweal explicitly backing the legitimacy of the church's work in defense of human rights...

...Two recently returned exiles were kidnapped...

...Nor in the short term is the persecution likely to alter the church's commitment to the defense of human rights and the restoration of Chile's democratic heritage...

...Businesses and shops shut down as the world looked on...

...censored church statements...

...Their article had charged that the regime has tried to legalize repression by creating a military "judicial" system, which acts "as an obstacle to adequate investigation of acts of human rights violations committed by military personnel or those with military rank...

...The government's efforts, particularly in the last year, to close down the church's human rights office, the Vicariate of Solidarity, have had far less success...

...A poll taken by the Chilean polling group DIAGNOS only a few days after the pope's departure indicated that, of the polled population, 34 percent felt that the pope's visit favored the government and opposition equally...

...The Chilean bishops have been clear in calling for a return to democracy...

...Paramilitary organizations acting with impunity have set aflame, bombed, or defaced dozens of churches throughout the country...

...Monica Marin, her husband Eduardo Contreras, and their four children have been followed and under surveillance since she spoke before the pope and one hundred thousand youths at the National Stadium on April 2 about the difficulties facing today's Chilean young people...

...The president of a pro-government neighborhood organization told her, "I am sorry because of your children, but you are really going to get it for what you said...

...He was accused of aggression against the police and released after eight hours on reduced charges of blocking traffic...

...Even foreign journalists covering the pope's visit were subject to attacks...

...The pressures will not alter the level of commitment which the Vicariate has to the integrated defense of the dignity of the person...

...Pope John Paul II met with a broad spectrum of the Chilean population, ranging from Communist party leaders to General Pinochet himself...

...For example: . Mario Mejfas, a leader from the poor neighborhood of Penalole'n, who spoke to the pope at the April 2 meeting of slum dwellers at La Bandera, was kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night on April 30 and beaten up by a group of individuals in civilian clothes who identified themselves as policemen...

...Since its creation by Cardinal Raul Silva Henriquez in 1976, the Vicariate of Solidarity has given legal assistance to approximately 300,000 persons, presenting nearly 8,000 writs of habeas corpus, and providing legal counseling in some 6,500 court cases...

...With the normal channels for participation — political parties and labor unions — largely illegal, the importance of the Catholic church as a "voice for the voiceless" has become magnified...

...A few outspoken bishops, vicars, and priests have been reined in, and some controversial figures within the church hierarchy have been replaced with Vatican-approved, theological conservatives who wish to steer the church to a more traditional, less activist role...

...The intensification of intimidation, pressure, and threats in this current period is rooted in "efforts to influence, attenuate, or diminish the commitment of the Chilean church," according to Enrique Palet, secretary general of the Vicariate...

...The military government has killed or expelled priests...

...She recently returned from a trip to Chile...

...Government hindrance of four Colombian radio correspondents, covering a land occupation in which hundreds were arrested, forced the journalists to suspend their coverage and leave the country...

...Shantytown dwellers, youths, workers, Indians, and campesinos gave moving testimony to the pope about what life for them is like under Chile's military regime of President General Augusto Pinochet...

...In 1986 alone, it worked with 2,500 social organizations to provide health, education, housing, and employment services to approximately 100,000 residents of poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Santiago...

...Finally, a German journalist was assaulted by a man in civilian clothes, then detained by military police and his home searched by "civilians...

...In early May, Roberto Garreto'n and Mariana Allendes, two Vicariate lawyers who authored an article on the human rights situation in Chile, were called in for questioning for "offending the Armed Forces...

...But once the pope had departed and Chile slipped from the 19 June 1987: 373 world's spotlight, the Chilean government moved quickly to keep its critics in line...