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Chile: Heating Up Again
| Article
# : |
10037 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
Date : |
4 / 1986 |
5,198 Words |
| Author
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Allan C. Brownfeld and Staunton Calvert
Allen Brownfeld is a Washington based columnist and author,
syndicated in publications throughout the country. Staunton
Calvert is a retired Internal Revenue Service officer whose
career spanned South America, Asia, and the United States. |
In 1973, the people of Chile ousted the majority Marxist government of Salvador Allende, which was in the process of dismantling that country's traditional democratic system and imposing a totalitarian economic and political regime upon its people.
Now, in 1986, Chile is again in trouble. This time, forces opposed to the government of General Augusto Pinochet--ranging from centrists to avowed communists--are attempting to destabilize the government and bring it down.
Unfortunately, the U.S. government appears to be assisting in this destabilization effort, indicating that we may have learned nothing from our earlier experiences in destabilization in places such as Iran and Nicaragua. For the Reagan administration to repeat the failures of the Carter administration would be ironic indeed.
The current U.S. role, in which Ambassador Harry Barnes appears to be a key figure, ignores both the long-run best interests of the people of Chile and our own larger interests in the region. It ignores, as well, Moscow's longstanding goal of gaining control of Chile, something it came dangerously close to achieving in 1973.
A democratic constitution
It is important to remember that the people of Chile are now living under a constitution that they themselves overwhelmingly endorsed in a free election.
In her book Chile: The Crime of Resistance, the respected French
... (1995 of 31418 Characters)
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