LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06530715
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 28, 2022
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2017
• Case Number: F-2015-02282
• Publication Date: August 13, 1975

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Latin American Trends
132
August 13, 1975
No. 0522/75
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Chile: The Church And Human Rights
There are growing indications that the Catholic
church in Chile is taking a stronger stand on human
rights issues. Recent statements by church leaders ,
suggest that they are concerned over the military
government's suspected complicity in the reported
deaths and disappearances of Chilean extremists, ac-
counts of which surfaced in the South American press
in mid-July and subsequently received wide publicity.
The bishop of Santiago celebrated a mass last
week for the families of 119 parsons, mostly members
of the Moveruant of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), who
allegedly were killed or wounded by government forces,
or have been reported missing abroad under mysterious
circumstances. The mass drew an overflow crowd and
the bishop's sharp words about the need for Chileans
to overcome "fear and insecurity" left no doubt among
his listeners that he ,was rapping the junta's handling
of the matter.
The Interdenominational Committee for Peace in
Santiago believes that stories of leftist deaths in
clashes in Argentina were circulated by security
forces concerned with accounting for the disappear-
ances, especially in view of a then impending visit
of the UN Human Rights investigating mission, which
has since been cancelled. The committee claims that
the facts support its thesis that the 119 individuals
had been detained by the military government and died
in custody, and that the bodies were disposed of in
Chile. Although the evidence is still circumstantial,
accounts of the killings in Argentina could be a cover
for secret executions by Chilean intelligence and
security agents. Chile's controlled newspapers claimed
that a number of Chilean extremists were killed- ih gun
battles with Argentine police, and that others were
August 13, 1975
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killed in a purge by the MIR, but no proof has been
offered by either country. Moreover, there is a
strong possibility that right-wing Argentines under
the control of former presidential adviser Lopez Rega
collaborated with Ch:lean intelligence forces to plant
false reports on the c:ashes.
When these reports first began gaining interna-
tional attention, the peace committee filed a request
with the Santiago appals court to investigate the
alleged disappearances, but the court refused and the
Supreme Court upheld the decision. Foreign Ministry
sources have since stated that an investigation is
under way, but the 1,1ck of official information is en-
couraging a belief that the regime is engaged in a
cover-up.
Meanwhile, in a meeting with Cardinal Raul Silva
several weeks ago. President Pinochet pledged that the
government would look into the case. Church sources,
however, claim that the Cardinal's entreaty did not
make much of an im?act on Pinochet. Shortly after the
meeting, Cardinal Silva gave the first hint that the
church was losing patience with the government when he
said he had "tole, the highest authorities of my country"
that without uni.:Ir Chile covld not have prosperity,
peace, or justic . He then appealed for a crusade for
mutual respect ad tolerance.
In a recent press statement, the Cardinal said he
had no objection to publication of the peace committee's
findings on the missing extremists, thereby implicitly
encouraging its probe. The US Embassy assumes that
Cardinal Silva also authorized or at least was aware of
the mass offered lazt week for the families of the miss-
ing'persons. The church's views were echoed by the
Papal Nuncio, who expressed shock and the "disquiet of
ailbassadors accrediteL in Santiago" over the fate of the
missing Chileans.
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While the church is not likely to engage in open
polemics with the government, its spokesmen will-un-
questionably be more vocal in airing their misgivings
about the government's conduct in dealing with human
rightE problems. Attention will probably be .focused
on two principal. areas:.
...The apparent failure of officials to explain
satisfactorily the disappearance of persons
presumably detained by security forces..
...Continued indications that the regime is not
living up to promises that it would abide by
new national security laws spelling out re-
strictions against illegal detention and .
torture.
Unless the Pinochet government takes some remedial
action, the church will probably find, itself on com-
mon ground with those in the opposition parties and
labor who are becoming more critical of the regime.
August 13, 1975
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