Word: chiles
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...tale of the attempt by the International Telephone & Telegraph Co. to overthrow Chile's Marxist Salvador Allende unfurled last week before a Senate subcommittee. Armed with reams of memorandums, working papers and personal letters from ITT's files, a Senate subcommittee established that the strange tale essentially began in September 1970, immediately after Allende garnered a plurality of 36% of the vote in Chile's popular presidential election, virtually assuring him of victory in the three-way runoff in Congress the following month. ITT officials, motivated by both misplaced patriotism and fear for the future...
...within a few days, the public has learned of a second ITT scandal--involving that corporation's attempt to give the Central Intelligence Agency $1 million to overthrow the government of Chile--and a $200,000 Nixon campaign gift (subsequently returned) from Robert Vesco, a financier currently indicted in a $224 million securities fraud case. Last week two important developments underscored the Watergate case's importance...
...flabbergasted. The vote surpassed the 36.2% that he himself had received when elected President in 1970, and it was three points above the 40% maximum predicted by the most optimistic Popular Unity pundits. What had happened? For one thing, the opposition had wrongly counted on defeating Allende by emphasizing Chile's economic problems-inflation and consumer-goods shortages-for Allende's regime has actually increased the purchasing power of many working-class families. In addition, the electorate grew 16.6% through the enfranchisement of several previously barred groups-18-year-olds, illiterates and the blind (who marked Braille ballots...
Last week's "victory" hardly solves his problems, however. Although the soaring price of copper (up from 460 to 680 per pound) could bring Chile an extra $300 million in hard currency this year, the nation will have to import twice that much in food just to maintain current standards...
Meanwhile, foreign currency reserves have been exhausted, inflation soared at a rate of 163% last year and this year's trade deficit is expected to surpass $500 million. Says one foreign economist in Santiago: "By July or August there will be some very hungry people in Chile." Says Allende: "There are higher values than a piece of meat or a kilogram of potatoes...