Word: anacondas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...respect for the due process of law. That assessment has proved correct, if a bit too sanguine. While giving conscientious attention to democracy and legality, Allende has nonetheless been expropriating American holdings almost as fast as he can. In July, he announced the nationalization of the mining interests of Anaconda, Kennecott and Cerro-but only after a constitutional amendment permitting the takeover had been duly introduced, debated and passed unanimously by the legislature. The amendment also provided for compensation based on the book value of the mines...
...Last week Allende announced that Chile will deduct $774 million in "excess profits" from the compensation due to Anaconda and Kennecott (Cerro's mine began production only last year). In effect, that means that the two companies will receive not a penny for their properties. The $774 million figure was arrived at through a complex formula. The Allende administration estimated each company's average worldwide copper profits over the past 15 years as a percentage of its book value and came up with a figure of 10%. Any profits from the company's Chilean operation that exceeded...
...emotional speech last week, Allende charged that Anaconda and Kennecott had done everything possible to damage the economy of the nation. Nonetheless, most observers believe that Allende is too pragmatic to risk the kind of bitterness that could follow if the companies are denied fair compensation, and will finally consent to a settlement approaching $1 billion. Only recently Chile negotiated agreements with four U.S. companies on terms that proved much more favorable than had been anticipated...
...copper nationalization will have the most serious effect on the Chilean economy and on Allende's relations with the U.S., since three U.S. companies (Anaconda, Kennecott and Cerro Corp.) own the bulk of the remaining foreign interest in Chile's copper mines. Allende has also expropriated 350 latifundios (large estates), with a total of 2,593,000 acres. Although very few landless families have been relocated thus far, he likes to boast that "in five months we have done one-third of what the previous government did in six years...
...Chile's copper mines, many of which are already partly owned by the government. Last week, in a preliminary step toward that goal, a Senate committee gave approval to a constitutional amendment permitting the government takeover and giving Allende wide bargaining powers in compensating the three U.S. corporations (Anaconda, Kennecott and Cerro) who now hold part-ownership. The companies are claiming that they have invested over $ 1 billion in the mines; the government is unlikely to set the sum anywhere near that high. How Allende conducts these negotiations will determine the state of U.S.-Chilean relations for some time...