REPRESSION CONTINUING IN CHILE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: October 25, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3
WASH _UTGTO + POST
25 OCTOBER 197;
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:t'1`. cr:?o: ;IfT;Wt'. t"~t U r 1 to
iir.Brl. a io'erests.
:?hera ;?act been !~:k in
r~r ent ra- for of
ne':gnatcan~ 6 .e T."T
v'ftire I. "%1e
corrtoany imrn'rl}ately t.rie i to
st ir up a revoiudon.
In Ic, the governor of
Puerto Rico considered taking
over ITT's profitable but
;er;ic ed teiernoiie
corop~ny. ITT thew its
resources against the
governor who-was de eated at
the polls
[n ? 1970, the Marxist
Se va, or Allende, earn-
pawt%^r.ng on a piarors_n of
nu;?.)r,al'7.ation, won Chi;-?'s
pres,teotiai elect?on. ttir y,:,t
waiting to see wneiher ~e
Wt!,!r, be abie to k?"c '-'is
l~;ore;i;es, ITT tri--d o sa,n
from taking power.
ITT owner tiO per cent of the
Chilean teleohnrre '_.,orrp; r y
and intended to keep iu. On
Oct. 23, 1970, ,T'-: s
Washington vice prescient,
William .1ierriam, sent a
message to ? Henry A.
iii;=singer in tee tou-e.
ft- was a stiltec, racr,er
uritr acefui demand for tough
A!ner;run aetion to stop
Kiss- gee endorsed a CIA-
ITT corispiracy to biock
AL?""do from becoming
president. When this failed,
the CIA began to undermine
the new Aaende regime. The
idea was to set him up for a
fa,..
The CIA spent an admitted
5R million on the anti-Allende
campaign.. -,his? helped to
bring Allende's subsequent
downtall. For their money, the
American taxpayers now have.
as an ally a military dic-
tatorship-far-more oppressive
than the Allende government
everwas. -
Since we have a proprietary
interest in the story, we have
continued to -keep an. eye on
Chile. We have reported how
the Chilean junta first turned.
upon the Communists and
leitists, then upon democratic
leaders We baveaiso told how
the junta -iorh:res political
prirj,ers and burns hooks.
The dictatorship . has
responded by sending
representatives `o W shington
to assureti.S. otfscials that the
repression is over and that
human rights are now
respected in Chile.
The ugly truth is, however,
that the junta. not only has
renewed its repression of
Aliende's- associates but of
religious ---leaders and
democratic politicans as well.
At this moment, for example,
the Chilean navy is preparing
three secret trials of about 100
political prisoners in the port
city of Valparaiso.
Tea prominent Chileans will
be charged, according to
smuggled documentation,
with "collaborating and
participating in an illegal
government." Yet it is the
junta that is illegal; t:ie
Allende government was
legally elected and - illegally
deposed. Thus the prisoners
are being tried for a crime
that was actually committed
by their accusers.
Among. those who will be
hauled before the junta's
kangaroo court are the
following:
-Perko Felipe Ramirez, 34,
Housing Minister under
Allende, and son-in-law of
Radomiro Tomic. the
Christian. Democrat who ran
against Allende - in 1970.
Ramirez was among those
released by the junta with
great fanfare a month ago. as
part of its second anniversary
celebration. Minutes after
Ramirez walked through the
prison doors, he was
rearrested by navy-agents.
-Andres Sepulveda. about
50, former congressman and
Socialist Party leader. He was
arrested after the coup,
released- on Sept. 20 and
.
rearrested five days later.-..
-Sergio Vuskovic, 49,
former mayor of Valparaiso
and professor of philosophy.
He also was arrested after the
coup, released about Sept. 1.T
and rearrested live days later.
-Luis Corvaian.5ti, former
senator and acknowledged
Communist. Although suf-
fering from, a bleeding ulcer
and a serious spina; disorder,
he has spent the last two years
in prison.
The second secret navy
trial, also in the works, will
bring about 5.3 political
prisoners before the bar on
charges of illegal arms im-
portation during the Allende
years. s.
The third secret trial will
take up vague charges of
"treason" against a number
of other prisoners.
No one is immune it seems,
from the junta's paranoiac
purge - of dissenters. Last
month, the military dictators
zeroed in on a private church
group, known as the "Com-
mittee for Cooperation and
Peace." which has been trying
to keep track of the thousands
of imprisoned Chileans.
Footnote: At the urging of
the Chile Solidarity Com-
mittee, a District of Columbia
group pushing for human
rights in Chile. several
members of Congress have
written to junta leader Gen.
Augusto Piroehet demanding
that the secret trials be I
stopped. Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy (D-Mass.) has also
asked the State Department to
issue a formal protest over the
Frenz expulsion. The Chilean--
embassy had no comment. '
kI975.Unired Feat we Syna,cate, Inca
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3