"Me or Chaos"
Villagrán, Fernando
IN THE COURSE OF 1988, THE COMMANDers-in-chief of Chile's armed forces, including Gen. Augusto Pinochet himself, will name a president to rule until 1997. Chileans registered on the...
...Ninety-three days later, on December 2, Commander Carrefio appeared elegantly dressed and smiling at the Sdo Paulo offices of the newspaper O Estado...
...This first clearcut popular response to Gen...
...8. La Epoca (Santiago), November 1, 1987...
...Many talk of a Philippine-style scenario: a No majority and attempted fraud, followed by mass demostrations and a split in the military, forcing the dictator from power...
...However, for this to be anything more than a pipe-dream, the internecine ideological battles which have sapped the opposition's strength must be overcome...
...Pinochet immediately suspended publication of dissident magazines and imprisoned opposition leaders...
...Arguing his own defense at his trial, Almeyda stated, "I have never been a man of violent action, but one who fights for his beliefs...
...Five persons were subsequently arrested for complicity in the kidnapping, among them Karen Eitel, a college student accused of being the clandestine spokesperson for the Front...
...And, after some hesitation particularly on the part of the Communists, they all took the further step of agreeing to encourage people to register to vote...
...And on March 26, 1986, 300 organizations-including the CNT, the FECH, the Federation of Professional Associations, the National Peasants' Confederation, pensioners' and community groups--joined forces in the Asamblea de la Civilidad, in which members of all opposition tendencies from Christian Democrat to Communist were represented...
...AD brought out half a million people in Santiago's O'Higgins Park on November 18, 1983...
...6. Such as Carlos Huneus...
...The demonstrations, called by the Copper Workers Confederation, touched off a period of burgeoning social protest, which was to last three years...
...Dissidents like actress Maria Maluenda, expelled over this issue, claim it has cost the party mass appeal...
...But perhaps most comforting to the dictator is that Ferndndez's name is no longer bandied about as a potential civilian candidate...
...Rodolfo Stange-who had maintained that existing laws could adequately keep the country under control, bowed to the dictator's wishes...
...The Humanists are mainly young critics of the traditional parties, concerned about ecological problems and the future of youth...
...The military regime is 14 years old, said Brig...
...Fernmndez is a shrewd political operator who has served Pinochet well...
...7 The Christian Democrats have also stressed the need to offer the country a program of government, as well as a candidate, even if there are no free elections...
...But the politicians lagged behind...
...Its transformation into the United Left (IU) seemed to weaken Communist hegemony within the coalition...
...and that led by Andres Allamand and supported by party chief Jarpa, who have pledged support for whomever the commanders-inchief nominate...
...Refusing to admit defeat, Pinochet's only comment was "I did it especially for the mothers...
...Above all, the candidate general sought to ensure the unconditional allegiance of the Army, the most powerful of the armed institutions...
...Chileans registered on the recently reopened electoral rolls will vote for or against this candidate in a plebiscite...
...Should it threaten his continued rule, many analysts believe Gen...
...After leaving the cabinet in 1982, he headed up the commission which wrote the new laws governing elections and political parties...
...But can the opposition sieze the moment...
...One of them, Socialist leader Clodomiro Almeyda, who was Allende's foreign minister, bucked the prohibition and returned in March of last year only to be shipped off to internal exile in Chile Chico, at the country's southern tip...
...A state of siege was declared, more than 60 were killed, hundreds wounded and thousands arrested...
...Interamerican Press Association (SIP) President Alejandro Miro Quezada termed the legislation a "vicious attack on freedom of speech...
...Then, Fernandez rose to the occasion by drawing up an amnesty law to protect the high-ranking Army officers implicated in the crime...
...The majority of the opposition agrees that such actions distract from the political confrontations that all parties, from National to Communist, believe are necessary to challenge the perpetuation of the military regime...
...In August 1987 the Chilean Bishops' Conference established five essential conditions for the plebiscite: 1) equal access to the media, especially television...
...Intense persecution of political leaders by security forces and anonymous death squads continued for the next four months until the state of siege was lifted...
...The other pro-Pinochet party, National Vanguard (VN), was organized with the support of the security forces and is made up primarily of their relatives and government employees...
...Public-opinion polls show 70% want an end to the regime, but nearly 60% are convinced that, through fraud, opposition errors or a new coup, the general will manage to stay in power...
...Fernando Matthei, National Police Gen...
...We learned to make unity a useful instrument...
...Anti-communist hysteria, promoted by the Right with U.S...
...As the political organization with the greatest capacity to mobilize the regime's civilian supporters, particularly big business and the traditional Right, RN's posture will be decisive in the plebiscite...
...The officer also asked Pinochet to halt efforts to locate him, which he said endangered his life...
...The government has had nothing new to say in reply to the bishops' demands...
...When Gen...
...4 During those same months in 1987, it was rumored that Pinochet would retire two generals thought to be loyal but not unconditionally so: Humberto Gordon, the former chief of the notorious secret police (euphemistically termed the National Information Center) and current Army representative on the government junta, and Roberto Soto Mackeney, relieved of his post as president of the University of Chile apparently for condoning more open dialogue with the university community.' Speculation notwithstanding, Gordon and Soto retain their positions in the officer corps, exhibiting for some the persistence of "professionalism" within the Army...
...CArdenas must appear at his place of detention by 8 p.m...
...Gonzdlez insisted that the authorities consider dialogue and negotiation, repeating his readiness to contribute to resolving the nation's crisis...
...All factions, including those of the democratic Right (National Party), Christian Democrats, Socialists and Communists, have come out against the plebiscite as a formula for presidential succession, demanding free elections...
...One major longstanding division, between the Communist Party and the Christian Democratic Party, was heightened by the PC's historic turnabout, ending its decades-old pursuit of the electoral path to power...
...The opposition must unite to ensure that [the plebiscite] will be held under equitable conditions...
...The 3-year-old Humanist Party, described by its president Jos6 TomBs Saenz as "New Left" surprised everyone December 18 by presenting 65,000 signatures, nearly twice the required number...
...In spite of its restrictive and undemocratic nature, the law at least allows registered parties to take part in the open elections to be held if the government MARCH/APRIL 1988 19Chile loses the plebiscite...
...was the battle cry at demonstrations throughout the following years...
...In the spring and summer of 1983, new organizations emerged, functioning outside the regime's legal framework...
...There is a legalist tradition in Chile, forged by 150 years of democratic life, which insists on respect for the will of the majority as expressed through elections...
...DURING THE GOVERNMENTS OF ALESSANdri (1958-1964), Frei (1964-1970) and Allende (1970-1973) the Right, center and Left, respectively, all sought to remake Chilean society...
...Secretary of the Interior Or- lando Poblete and junta member Adm...
...Tyrranicide," was the word used by FPMR Comandantes "Jos6 Miguel" and "Daniel" at a clandestine press conference to describe the attack...
...La Epoca, December 19, 1987...
...Soto had offended the dictator's preferred political style by agreeing to dialogue with the faculty regarding salary increases and a review of the university administration...
...This action was prompted by the publication of a special issue entitled "Pinochet's Thousand Faces," a satirical autobiography illustrated with doctored photographs showing the dictator in absurd and comical situations...
...To be sure a number of names are tossed around, among them Cardinal Raul Silva Hernindez, but one that has surfaced most frequently in political circles is Eduardo Frei, the Christian Democrat son of the deceased former president...
...In an interview published by Andlisis last September, Christian Democratic leader Andres Zaldivar was asked his opinion of Gen...
...During 1987, after heated internal debate, the Communists outlined the beginnings of what looks like another about-face, calling upon its supporters to register to vote, while stressing civil disobedience and mass mobilization...
...In June, Navy commander Merino told The Economist that two or three civilians were being considered, and that the next president ought to be a civilian.z Generals Matthei and Stange concurred...
...We must be shepherds, not mule drivers," was his assessment of the Church's role...
...Subsequently, one of those who spoke to the Pope, Mario Mejias, was kidnapped and brutally beaten by unidentified armed men...
...The cabinet's new helmsman has been a major architect of attempts to institutionalize the regime, and as such was well received by the brass...
...Spoken before a gathering of CEMA-Chile, an official women's organization, October 21, 1987...
...And it's going to fall...
...and the smaller Socialist Bloc...
...Hoy, November 9, 1987...
...The plebiscite is intended simply to legitimize the prolongation of the regime for another eight years...
...The year 1986 also seemed to demonstrate rather decisively the inviability-in a country with a disciplined professional fighting force and a civic tradition of democratic political participation--of ending the regime through armed insurrection...
...4) democratic supervision of the ballot counting...
...La Epoca, October 10, 1987...
...Since July 2, Andlisis editor Juan Pablo Cirdenas has been sleeping in jail, serving a sentence of 541 nights for publishing editorials defamatory to the president...
...Even so, after 14 years of dictatorship, the opposition believes this plebiscite can alter the course of events...
...Fourteen years of arbitrary arrests, routine torture, killings and disappearances seem to have cowed a people disillusioned by as many years of fruitless struggle...
...He knows no limits because power is his very existence...
...When it registered recently as a legal party, RN presented 61,000 signatures, far surpassing the 35,000 required...
...Hundreds of youth have been arrested and beaten while distributing voter registration cards, including Communist, Socialist, Christian Democratic and Humanist youth leaders...
...The signatories were: Christian Democratic Party, Socialist Party (Nufiez), Socialist Party (Almeyda), Humanist Party, Radical Party (Luengo Section), Radical Party (Silva Cimma Section), MAPU, Christian Left, Popular Socialist Union, Social Democratic Party, National Democratic Party, Liberal Republican Party and Worker-Peasant MAPU...
...In this land pervaded by cynicism, apathy may have become the major political ideology...
...In September, shortly after the kidnapping, five youths linked to the Communist Party were picked up in what appears to have been an act of revenge...
...Violent confrontations followed and a split seems in the offing...
...S" VERY CHILEAN MUST DECIDE "E whether to continue advancing along the path of construction that we have been following since September 11, 1973, or to retreat into socialism," Gen...
...At the university, Federici soon announced such "streamlining" as the reduction of teachers' class hours, dismissal of deans and expulsion of students, the elimination of entire fields of study and other measures of dubious academic benefit...
...The Socialists headed by Ricardo Nufiez proposed the founding of a unified opposition party...
...The FPMR sent the press cassette recordings in which Carrefio requested an inquiry into repression by the armed forces...
...One more will settle accounts...
...ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON SEPTEMBER 7, 1986, the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR)-a political-military organization linked to the Communist Party (PC)-ambushed Gen...
...On March 10 the Christian Democrats presented the 35,000 signatures required for registration...
...An important sector of the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front (FPMR) then rebelled and left the party to become an independent group...
...Patricio Serre in May 1987, "well into adolescence and it must reach, perhaps not maturity, but at least an age in which it can develop on its own...
...APSI, June 29, 1987...
...9. Interview by Nibaldo Mosciatti, November 1987...
...Even the Communist Party issued a call for his release at the end of September...
...Each of these attempts to carry out radical change were in turn violently opposed by their adversaries, reinforcing sectarianism and intolerance...
...Military courts now enthusiastically embrace the roles of both judge and jury to mete out punishment to independent media and journalists...
...Pinochet dismissed the president of the University of Chile, Army Gen...
...The regime's insistence on clinging to its own institutional framework, denying any reform that might jeopardize Pinochet's plans, demonstrated that the opposition must present an alternative institutional formula for presidential succession, forcing change in the 1980 constitution...
...Merino have said no more than that those matters are not within the bishops' purview...
...and 5) a climate of respect for human rights...
...If we call for a No vote in the plebiscite, it is because a No victory is what will make free elections possible," says Ricardo Lagos.' 6 Top CNT leaders, headed by Manuel Bustos, agree that a Pinochet defeat and a broad democratic movement to prevent fraud may bring about an overall crisis, compelling the armed forces to accept free elections...
...It also gives them the right to demand media coverage...
...O N MARCH 11, 1983, A DEAFENING UProar of banging pots and pans engulfed the counMARCHIAPRIL 198817 try's major cities...
...At his direction, on December 19 the conference reiterated its demands for the plebiscite, emphasizing this time the call for equal access to television...
...For nothing but concerted action to defeat Pinochet politically will rouse Chileans out of the skepticism that has engulfed them over the last year and a half...
...the following morning...
...Pinochet said as he cut the ribbon on yet another public housing project in the southern city of Los Angeles last August...
...When both the Christian Democrats and United Left-which advocates a boycott rather than legitimize the regime's "legality"--refused to go along, the Nuiiez Socialists went ahead anyway and formed the Pro-Democracy Party (PPD) in December...
...This history is a weighty obstacle to opposition agreement, challenging the efforts of even the most lucid and committed democrats...
...W ITH ARMY SUPPORT ASSURED, CANDIdate Pinochet turned to squelching dissent within National Renovation...
...2 In the struggle against Federici, students and faculty showed the nation's political opposition how to defeat the dictator...
...On August 11 and 12, the regime unleashed a veritable massacre...
...The major parties have set up Free Elections Committees to register voters using traditional campaign tactics, such as door-to-door canvassing, street theater and rallies...
...Undaunted by irony, the general has crisscrossed the country, decrying socialism and distributing dwellings in ceremonies profusely covered by the state-owned and state-controlled television networks...
...On his visit to "Christ's Home" charity, John Paul II, clearly moved, repeatedly embraced Carmen Gloria Quintana, the young student who, along with Rodrigo Rojas, was cruelly burned by a military patrol during the July 1986 protests...
...Amid such dissension, it was Army officers who lifted their voices in defense of their leader...
...In a speech at O'Higgins Park demonstration, November 19, 1987, and repeated to the press on December 21, 1987...
...It is led by the Socialist Ricardo Lagos, but includes in its leadership members of the opposition Group of 24, the right-wing but democratic Republican Party, the Radical Party and MAPU, as well as CP dissidents, famous actors and student leaders...
...The military conducted house-to-house searches throughout the country in vain attempts to locate Carrefiio, creating a climate of terror and clearly dampening mass opposition activity...
...The political parties, marginalized since 1973, seem to have squandered much of their capacity to lead in sterile ideological feuding...
...Radio Cooperativa, December 20, 1987...
...3) an end to the use of exceptional powers...
...The former government minister replied, "He is crude, uneducated and brutally audacious...
...One of RN's vice presidents, the youthful Andres Allamand, fears that Pinochet would likely face defeat, thus jeopardizing the regime's programmatic objectives...
...The Communists' posture also came under increasing fire from their Left allies, leading to the dissolution of the Popular Democratic Movement on June 26, 1987...
...2) guarantees of freedom of information...
...The regime openly backed the ex-UDI faction, but, still fearing defeat, Guzmdn attempted a party coup, suspending the elections and demanding that Jarpa step down...
...And what could be better than the father of this child, this boy, to guide him through the entire course of this process until he has reached full development...
...And more than 500,000 people responded to AD's call to O'Higgins Park on November 21 of that year...
...labor reached basic agreements for action, at least within the CNT...
...This is the lesson that many hope the opposition will absorb: only unity can prevent Pinochet from perpetuating himself in power...
...Through the mediation of Father Alberto Soiza, the money was used to purchase food for distribution in poor neighborhoods on the outskirts of Santiago...
...Chile's traditional political parties have long carried on a highly ideological polemic...
...To zero in on RN recalcitrants, in July 1987 Pinochet named as his Interior Minister and right-hand man Sergio Fernindez, a civilian with longstanding ties to the regime, whose views are close to the former UDI faction of National Renovation...
...The DC and its allies in the Democratic Alliance have prepared a draft program for discussion by the opposition, as have the Nufiez Socialists...
...THE QUESTIONABLE ABILITY OF THE CHIlean opposition to unify against the regime will be dramatically tested in coming months...
...With iron-fisted military logic and boundless personal ambition, to date Pinochet has successfully quelled reformists inside his government and stymied an opposition unable to understand that the logic of democracy is not appropriate for challenging a one-man military dictatorship...
...He may hold no public office, nor may he direct educational institutions or engage in teaching...
...Although the successful national strike of July 2-3 MARCH/APRIL 1988 17Chile shook the country and forced the government to use all its power and cunning, the various opposition groupings were unable to reach a consensus on how to deepen the struggle...
...18REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 18 REPORT ON THE AMERICASThere, he was interrogated extensively by Fernando Torres, the military prosecutor in charge of investigating the FPMR...
...The other junta members-Adm...
...2. The Economist (London), June 6, 1987, p. 4 3 . 3. El Mercurio (Santiago), May 17, 1987...
...The CNT gathered a quarter of a million in the same place for May Day six months later, despite the security forces' vast campaign of intimidation...
...The movement did not topple the regime, but certain myths which guided sectors of the opposition were dispelled...
...And the mechanisms for presidential succession confer on him and the armed forces ironclad guardianship over Chile's future...
...Neither my ideas nor my conduct in Chile or in exile justify the terrible punishment being sought...
...In 1988 Chile will see either the rebirth of democratic hope or the living nightmare of Pinochet's dream, projecting his rule up to the next millenium...
...When community leaders began to describe the repression and poverty of their daily life, live television coverage was abruptly cut off the air...
...The dictatorship has outlawed history and so perverted language that Chile's 150 years of democratic tradition are clouded in a fog of unreality...
...Carlos Gonzalez Cruchaga as president of the Bishops' Conference...
...Within days the "September 11 Commando" kidnapped and murdered four prominent leftists, among them Jos6 Carrasco, the international editor of the newsweekly Andlisis...
...She has been brutally tortured according to her family and her lawyer, Jos6 Galiano, who in turn has received death threats from the Chilean Anti-Communist Association (ACHA...
...Given the broad consensus of the entire university community-regardless of political orientation-in favor of continued peaceful demonstrations, the campus soon became ungovernable...
...He has no moral restraint because he is amoral...
...They face up to five years in jail if found guilty...
...With the discovery of weapons caches and the assassination attempt on Pinochet in September 1986, the Christian Democrats-arguing that joint action with the Communists was incompatible with peaceful struggle for democracy-set about shaping an opposition agreement which excluded them...
...However, in mid-1987, speculation was rife that someone other than Pinochet would be nominated...
...Luis Toro, a Christian Democrat, resisted and with the help of his neighbors miraculously escaped becoming the fifth victim...
...While Jarpa has publicly supported Pinochet's candidacy, well-informed sources say he is available should the general prove unviable...
...each evening where he remains until 6 a.m...
...Hundreds of Chileans in exile have been expressly prohibited from entering Chile...
...Then came three new party coalitions: Democratic Alliance (AD), with Christian Democrats at its hub...
...While the fact that Carrefio was released unharmed won sympathy for the FPMR's exploit and was a clear defeat for the security forces, the kidnapping was repudiated by a broad spectrum of the political opposition and the Catholic Church...
...the regime did not fulfill them...
...9 " Such pleas seem to be falling on deaf ears...
...PPOSITION LEADERS THOUGHT 1986 would be a decisive year, and events have proven that indeed it was, yet not in the way many anticipated...
...He has taken power the way an addict takes drugs...
...DURING POPE JOHN PAUL'S VISIT IN APRIL 1987, he met with the residents of Santiago's La Bandera neighborhood...
...His return to the cabinet put an end to the discord provoked by Government General Secretary Francisco Javier Cuadra, who for nearly three years directed a notorious head-on confrontation with all civilian political forces, including the rightist RN...
...The constitution imposed in 1980 was tailored to the measure and taste of the present head of state...
...Pinochet went so far out on a limb to defend his appointee that government economist Alvaro Bard6n exclaimed, "if the government removes Federici, Pinochet will fall in 1988...
...The plebiscite is intended simply to legitimize the prolongation of the regime" REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 14Pinochet's motorcade...
...Chile's people watched with growing discouragement as a confusion of diverse proposals continued to divide the opposition...
...However, Bustos insists that, "It is urgent for the opposition to reach a decision on a man, a leader, who represents the No to Pinochet...
...Pinochet would not hesitate to cancel it altogether...
...On February 2, thirteen parties signed a joint declaration calling on the Chilean people to register, vote No and organize to confront the expected fraud with mass actions...
...RN brings together members of two defunct organizations of the Right: the Independent Democratic Union (UDI)--including the far-right student, community and business leaders who have been the brains and muscle of the dictatorship's economic program-and the National Labor Front, led by Pinochet's former Interior Minister, Sergio Onofre Jarpa, elected in December to head the party...
...The Front demanded and received $50,000 from the Carrefio family for his release...
...Sources close to the Army say Pinochet's most intimate and trusted generals are Roberto Guillard, Sergio Badiola (mayor of the Metropolitan Region and the capital), Santiago Sinclair (vice commander-in-chief of the Army), Eduardo Ibafiez (mayor of Concepci6n), Washington Garcia, Jorge Ballarino and Bruno Siebert (minister of public works...
...0 On December 21 the Constitutional Tribunal upheld the government's case against Almeyda, stipulating that he may not utilize any mass means of communication nor adopt a position of social leadership...
...Three months later he was imprisoned, charged with violating Article 8 of the constitution...
...But Francisco Cumplido, a constitutional lawyer consulted by APSI magazine, believes that "due to the slow pace of cases before the Constitutional Tribunal . .. the law . will undoubtedly be enforced selectively...
...Besides the PC, the IU includes Almeyda's Socialists, MAPU, the Christian Left, a sector of the Radical Party, the MIR and other minor groups...
...It is no secret that the Chilean dictator intends to remain in power...
...Whether there will be a candidate to stand for the No campaign, and who that might be, is still a matter of speculation...
...He conversed at length with reporters, telling them he had been well treated by his captors...
...We cannot stand by with our arms crossed while the country strains under a tension that could grow more acute in the coming months and lead to violence...
...Fernindez orchestrated the 1980 plebiscite which fraudulently approved Pinochet's new constitution and "legalized" his rule...
...Pinochet's electoral campaign was organized by the Asamblea de la Civilidad and dramatically symbolized efforts at unification...
...The student movement managed to develop a unified platform...
...This great wave of civil disobedience-following the disintegration of "Chicago boys" economics and its supposed boom-enabled Chile's opposition to achieve new freedoms, but at the cost of hundreds of deaths, thousands of arrests and brutal attempts at intimidation...
...Hoy (Santiago), December 1987...
...Roberto Soto, at the end of August, the backlash belied both student apathy and the fractiousness of the opposition...
...6 In Gordon's case, perhaps it simply showed that, as far as the military is concerned, leaked rumors are sufficient to keep the brass in line...
...Five members of his escort died in the attack, but Pinochet emerged unharmed...
...Me or Chaos" 1. Clandestine press conference attended by APSI and others...
...His replacement was a civilian, Jos6 Luis Federici, who had earned himself quite an unsavory reputation as administrator of state enterprises, including Chilean Railways...
...Shunned by the rest of the Left, it becomes easy prey for the regime's attacks...
...Throughout 1985, despite acute and intensifying repression, massive acts of civil disobedience were repeated in the middle of each month...
...What was new was the election in December of Msgr...
...Caught off guard, the Chilean military dispatched a plane to Brazil to bring Carrefio back to Santiago where he was held in virtual captivity at the Military Hospital for three weeks...
...To complement the absolutely unilateral and discriminatory use of television, the regime has intensified repression of the dissident press...
...Pinochet "begin writing his farewell speech...
...3 Like Serre, other officers pulled no punches in endorsing their chief at public ceremonies and encounters with the press...
...The tyrant has earned the hatred of the people and we are convinced we have the right to execute him...
...At the same time, Msgr...
...We killed four Marxists to avenge the deaths of the bodyguards," a spokesman for the paramilitary group stated in telephone calls to the news media...
...Similar opinions were voiced in civilian circles supportive of the regime, largely top-level businessmen and sectors of the conservative National Renovation Party (RN...
...Special interests and contradictions were set aside, and the entire community joined forces to apply pressure while at the same time seeking dialogue...
...But, judging from the experience of the past five years, unity will not be easily achieved...
...There his efforts to streamline production resulted in thousands of layoffs and poor economic performance by the company...
...Nonetheless, on October 29, after 69 days of protests, the government announced Federici's resignation...
...The first was the National Workers Command (CNT), the most representative labor coalition since the Unified Workers Central (CUT) was banned by the military in 1973...
...Anrlisis, November 9, 1987...
...support during the governments of Frei and Allende, and carried forth with gusto by Pinochet since 1973, contributed to further enmity and divisions...
...In-fighting weakened the leadership's credibility, dissipating the movement's energy and exhausting the millions of Chileans who fervently desired an end to the regime...
...GermAn Quintana, a Christian Democratic leader of the FECH, commented "We went beyond unity as a slogan to unity as a concept, which lent discipline and coherence even at the most trying moments...
...Despite FernAndez's efforts, dissent within National Renovation seems to have grown over the past year...
...Chile's opposition seeks to put this deep-seated tradition to work to challenge the dictatorship...
...The campaign is still for free elections...
...Should No votes prevail, the constitution stipulates that open elections must be held within a year...
...And we will learn, if nothing else, just how deeply 14 years of dictatorship have poisoned the nation's capacity to resist...
...By March 4.5 million had signed onto the rolls...
...the Democratic Popular Movement (MDP), led by the Communist Party, but including Almeyda's Socialists and the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR...
...This campaign was geared largely to impress the armed forces and their commanders...
...The three major opposition parties--Christian Democrat, Socialist and Communist-also face internal factional fighting, and mini-parties come into existence with surprising ease...
...7 Rather than take Zaldivar to court, the military regime charged the reporter who posed the question, Monica GonzAlez, with "offenses to the president...
...Article 8 prohibits from political life all persons and organizations deemed by the authorities to be "Marxist" and inimical to the values of Western society, to which Chile purportedly belongs...
...Opposition leaders argue that an electorate of more than 6 million voters would guarantee majority participation and limit the regime's ability to carry out the fraud it undoubtedly plans, as credible public opinion polls show no more than 22% in its favor...
...Fernindez was Interior MARCH/APRIL 1988 15Chile Minister nine years ago, when repercussions from the murder of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier on a Washington street rocked the regime...
...Their last important action was the September 1 kidnapping of Army Commander Carlos Carrefio...
...Speaking before a jubilant gathering of supporters shouting "Sex, work, justice and freedom...
...EVERAL PARTIES HAVE DECIDED TO SEEK legal registration in accordance with the regime's new law...
...REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 16OT EVERYTHING HAS GONE THE WAY the dictator would have liked...
...Prominent Communist Party leaders, including Alejandro Toro and Patricio Hales, have severely criticized the party's decision to break with their traditional disdain for armed struggle...
...She faces a five-year sentence...
...o ON NOVEMBER 19, 1987 CLOSE TO 400,000 people revived mass demonstrations at Santiago's O'Higgins Park...
...Paralysis set in, vitiating the Asamblea de la Civilidad as a vehicle for a broad opposition action...
...Saenz called upon Chileans to vote No in the plebiscite, and suggested that Gen...
...Eighteen thousand armed troops took to the streets with orders to be ruthless...
...Moreover, legislation passed last October, imposes drastic fines and suspension on any media that report the activities of those proscribed...
...The students, organized in the Chile Students Federation (FECH), and the faculty, through its union, proceeded to close down the university...
...4 "We must obtain the registration of 6.5 million persons and offer the nation an alternative government," said Patricio Aylwin, current Christian Democratic president, last November...
...The protest remained nonviolent despite police provocations which culminated in the shooting of a young student, Maria Paz Santibafiez, in downtown Santiago on September 24...
...5. APSI (Santiago), June 22, 1987...
...Very late that same night, all Chile saw him appear on television to announce the imposition of a new state of siege...
...7. Andlisis (Santiago), September 21, 1987...
...A few days later armed men tried to kidnap a human rights lawyer for the Catholic Church's Vicariate of Solidarity, which defends the persecuted...
...He has been most critical of the regime's human rights record, and enjoys great prestige within the Church...
...Thousands more took part in a mass "mobilization for life," in defense of human rights, in downtown Santiago on August 9, 1984...
...From the abortive dialogue with Pinochet sought by the Democratic Alliance in August 1983, to the initiation of armed struggle encouraged by the Communist Party since 1980, the political leaders' tactics have proven ineffective, frustrating the real advances toward unity, above and beyond partisan loyalty, demonstrated by the Chilean people in these years...
...Two factions squared off for the mid-March election of party officers: the ex-UDI group led by Jaime Guzmin, the regime's leading ideologue, who proposes unconditional support for Pinochet...
...Following the fraudulent 1980 constitutional plebiscite, the Communists decided to support armed struggle...
...4. Servicio Informativo Confidencial (Santiago), July 1987...
...The military government boycotted the family's efforts to negotiate Carrefio's release, refusing to deal with the kidnappers and prohibiting the media from publishing any information on the case...
...The editors of the weekly APSI, Marcelo Contreras and Sergio Marras, were jailed for two months and are being tried by a military prosecutor for slandering the Army commander-in-chief...
...Hoy, December 7, 1987...
...The bishops specified these same conditions in 1980 for the constitutional plebiscite...
...The FPMR action gave Pinochet new justification for muzzling the press and the opposition groups which, under the umbrella organization Asamblea de la Civilidad, had organized a successful national strike against the government on July 2 and 3 of that year...
...It is this deeply held concept of legitimacy which drove Pinochet to seek a plebiscite for his continued rule...
...But it seems he may only achieve it through massive fraud, particularly if the opposition does manage to register 6 million voters...
...The sentence is for 10 years and may not be appealed...
...P INOCHET LAUNCHED HIS HIGH-PRESSURE election campaign soon thereafter, parading the assassination attempt as evidence of the need to perpetuate his rule...
...The Pope's visit underscored not only his enormous charisma but also the Catholic Church's influential role in national life...
...Pinochet's Thousand Faces" landed two editors in iail IADE,.IVIW lAO H-EA T D Ea,",- P N, e -E...
...Jos6 Toribio Merino, Air Force Gen...
...MEASURED BY THE EXTENT OF GOVERNment crackdowns, it seems the FPMR managed to achieve a higher level of organization and activity over the past two years...
...During Carrefio's captivity they were thought to be held hostage, but from all indications it seems there has been a revival of the tragic habit of disappearing prisoners, as in the early days of the Pinochet regime...
Vol. 22 • March 1988 • No. 2
