Thirteen may be Pinochet's
International Viewpoint 29 September 1986
CHILE the Spanish, Uruguayan and Vennetwork they worked for was preparing to carry out similar operations in the British and American embassies.
kidnapping of Colonel Mario Haeberle, unlucky number apparently by the Manuel Rodriguez
Patriotic Front (MRPF).
the colonel was held for only a few then released the event sent shock waves throughgovernment and the confidence of the regime.
Two weeks previously, the MRPF
THIRTEEN YEARS after the US-backed coup that saw the bloody overthrow of Salvador Allende's Popular Unity government on
September 11, 1973, the country of Chile remains crisis-ridden in all respects - politically, economically and socially. (1)
The thirteenth anniversary of General Augusto Pinochet's regime was marked by anti-government demonstrations, violently attacked by the police. But these events themselves were overshadowed by the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Pinochet, and the subsequent imposition of a new state of siege, wide-ranging arrests and a number of oppositionists murdered by unidentified "death-squads"
in retaliation.
This article looks at the background to these events and the implications for the life-expectancy of the Pinochet regime. International
Viewpoint will carry a report shortly on the aftermath of the imposition of the state of siege.
M JAVIER
"From abroad Chile looks tiny, violent, isolated and growing poor in every sense ... its internal situation has been stretched to the utmost
[The] rational way out limit cannot be other than an agreement with the military so that they fulfil their responsibilities and show political will to open up the transitional
- [They] promised to process restore the democratic institutionality to the country but have not done so.
They must do it now, before it is too
Democrat Presi-
This is Christian dent Gabriel Valdes' twisted logic about Chile's crisis and the solution he and his party favours.
Obviously, the old and sense the advent of dramatic events. Accordingly, they line to offer
"American solution"
which may be on the cards, herent if they seriously take up and lead the struggle to get rid dictatorship themselves.
Their response comes at a moment of deep political crisis and the background of increasing unrest. Lately, the news broadcasts extensively on discoveries of arms cashes (eight
8 tons of it!) in the northern provinces, as well as alarmist reports of 267 acts of "terrorist violence" in the first six months of this year. There was national and international indignation at the savage killing of Rod. rigo Rojas Denegri, Chilean who was visiting the country from Washington and participated in anti-government demonstration. He and his friend Gloria Quintana were "doused with petrol by members of the security forces, set alight then dumped by the roadside". (3)
United States - Pinochet's staunchest ally - has been making noises and signals of growing con-
John Galvin, the general in of the US army's southern the August 17 [Chilean] armed forces' professionalism is a characteristic that will help the country in the transition toward a democratic government"
Politically, the country is dominated by an atmosphere of fin de regime. Scandals of all sorts are being suddenly uncovered by interested parties within NCO's who deserted revealed at a press that they had assigned by the security services to spy on diplomatic missions in Santiago. They said they had already spied on held a semi-clandestine ference in Santiago, to which foreign journalists were invited, to announce that two army conscripts had decided to join the armed struggle against the regime. They "tired of being used to repress the recognized by the army in a brief press communique two days later.
The military dictatorship is also deeply divided around a judicial inJoint Commando during 1975-1976, allegedly headed by ex-junta member and now retired air force General Gustavo Leigh. The Commando's purpose was the extermination of the main clandestine leaders of the Communist Party. The ad-hoc designated judge, Carlos Cerda, issued arrest warrants against Leigh and 39 other men, two of them civilians, who are accused of being respon sible for the death of ten leading members of the Communist Party in 1976. Military hierarchy divided
It is reported that there serious splits within the military hierarchy as to the best way to conthis affair. Some manoeuvre it out of existence by means of granting an amnesty culprits; others, more sensitive the reduced social base of regime, would prefer to have a tightly stage-managed the regime's ugly arrests to date.
Another investigation by the judiciary is also besieging the embattled
Martinez Rodrigues, leader of the Santiago University
See "Pinochet's regime facing new crisis", by Jair Gil International Viewpoint' No. 85, October 28, 1985.
2. 'ASPI' (independent review of the Chilean left) No. 186, August 1986.
'Financial Times, September 2, 1986.
International Viewpoint 29 September 1986
Student Federation, was found murdered on a beach near Santo Domingo, 100 miles from Santiago. Martinez was a member of the Christian Democratic Party. The circumstances of his death have not yet been uncovered.
The regime's sense of political direction seems to be somewhat lost, except for Pinochet's firm belief that he is indispensable for the maintenance of law and order through a system he and his cronies euphemistically call "protected democracy". The pomp of official ceremonies has increased simultaneously with the arrogance of his closest aides, to the despair and embarrassment of some of its supporters both at home and abroad. Pinochet's strength lies not so much in his, or his government's, political ability or strategy, as in the weakness and division of the opponents of the regime.
As the crisis deepens, social unrest grows, and supporters of the regime abandon the ship before it sinks, the variegated spectrum of political Popular demonstration in Chile in 1984 (DR) organizations jockey to put forward their propuestas (proposals).
Thus, in the first two weeks of August, most of the tolerated political parties made sure that their propuestas went public. The Democratic Independent Union for example - the most recent formation of all, led by • ultra-rightist and former staunch supporter of the dictatorship, Jaime Guzman - advanced 24 points for "action on the economic, political, cultural and social fields in order to help overcome the difficult present moment". The Christian Left gave the press the text of *Political bases toward the formulation of a common proposal for transition". The Demo. cratic Alliance — a coalition of rightcentre political parties organized around Christian Democracy - put forward the proposal of a plebiscite in order to define a "true transition to democracy"
Following from this the rest of the political parties have contributed their own proposals or clarified their position vis-a-vis those that have already been made public. Eduardo Loyola is a spokesperson of the Partido Socialista-Almeyda, one of the public factions that have split from the Socialist Party. Loyola disassociated his party and the Popular Democratic Movement (MDP, a coalition around the Communist Party which includes the MIR, the Movement of the Revolutionary Left) from statements made by Andres Pascal Allende, general secretary of MDP, about the need for an armed popular rising as the only way to overthrow the dictatorship. At the same time Loyola made appeals to the "leaders of political parties representing all sectors of society" to reach a broad agreement to "end with the dictatorship once and for all". (4) Devoid of rhetoric, Loyola's statement concretely means agreement to negotiate with the military, but they must push Pinochet aside first.
Luis Corvalan, general secretary of the Chilean Communist Party (PCC), advances their propuesta as follows: "Our party is ready to sit around the table with the rest of the opposition parties till white smoke comes up, till a propuesta comes up". He added that, like the other opposition parties, they were in favour of a dialogue with the armed forces and that this was an important point of coincidence with them. Summing up his governmental formula, Corvalan says that what is important is that there is a government of transition. "We make no question of being part of such a government... [but it] would be a consensus government." (5)
Corvalan's position has been consistent. In issue number 105 of the African Communist (second quarter 1986), he wrote that should clearly bourgeois-oriented democracy replace the dictatorship, although a government of this type "will be unable to lead the country out of the crisis, let alone meet the urgent need of the masses" the PCC will support such an administration provided it did not go against the people. In the same article he further explains that it "would not be impossible to reach agreement with the amed forces on condition that the tyrant be removed."
It would appear, therefore, that the lack of unity of the opposition parties is precluding the formation of a broad-based coalition to present a serious challenge to Pinochet.
"Christian Democracy will have neither agreements nor political alliances of any sort with the Communist Party or the MIR" - this was the emphatic declaration of Arturo Frei to La Tercera newspaper on August 17. Arturo Frei is a leading light within Christian Democracy, and has quite an influence, being the nephew of deceased ex-President Frei.
Arturo Frei puts all the blame for the inexistence of an agreement to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy on Pinochet, who, he argues, has systematically rejected such a course with the civilians. To Frei's mind the main problem Chile is facing at the moment is the deepening social polarization and the steady course towards confrontation. Thus, his recipe for the transition is as follows: "We, the politicians, have the responsibility not to develop thoroughgoing or excessively ideological [political] programmes. " Marx was right - history does repeat itself, once ...
To the political crisis in Chile must be added the economic dimension of the problems facing the regime. The debt hangs around the neck of the economy like a dead weight. Loans in Chile were essentially used to support an overvalued exchange rate and a rapid increase in imported manufactures. Concretely, this meant
4. TAPS 'APSI' No. 186, August 1986.