Chile, again

Carlos López from Chile lists three questions that and are being hotly debated in Santiago :

1. The newspaper La Tercera (8/3/03) reported that former President Eduardo Frei was informed the night of September 10, 1973 by his former naval attaché that Allende would be removed from office next day. The question has been raised: because Frei did not notify Allende or anybody else, was he part of the conspiracy to save Chile from Communism? Later, he did publicly support the Junta hoping that he would be called to the government.

2. It has been said, "everybody in Chile wanted the Revolution". Now, former Communist leader Luis Guastavino agrees. The Communist Party definitely wanted a revolutionary change, with or without Allende; the Socialist Party in their congresses of 1965 and 1967 had approved the "Vía violenta" to bring about changes. Allende himself was President of OLAS, the movement organized by Fidel Castro to bring about Revolution in the Americas. The Christian Democrats wanted a revolution that would return them to power. The right wanted the revolution that would get rid of Marxism. Guastavino's statement goes like this: "If we were all guilty, nobody is guilty."

3. The movement to make financial restitution to the 3000 victims of the Pinochet government does not include the families of 800 or so policemen and soldiers who were victims of the left and who are included in the total. Now the Police are demanding that the families of those killed be compensated along with the leftists.