Word: frei
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...seems strange indeed. Chile, after all, is more prosperous and more egalitarian than most of its neighbors. It is also the staunchest democracy in South America, undisturbed by coups d'état since 1932 and led for the past six years by the strenuously reformist government of President Eduardo Frei. Few countries in Latin America have appeared to be so devoted to the democratic process as this nation of 9,000,000. Even its geography helped by isolating it from its neighbors. Stretching more than 2,600 miles down the west coast of South America, Chile has the towering Andes...
...losing parties seemed at one point to be on the verge of snatching the presidency away from him. Alessandri, the right-wing runner-up, said that if he were elected President by the Congress, he would resign immediately, paving the way for new elections. The popular President Frei, legally barred from succeeding himself, would then be permitted to run. Although he would probably have won an absolute majority against any and all opponents, Frei did not support the plan publicly, possibly because he believed that it was merely a way of thwarting the constitutional process...
...government." As for relinquishing his right to appoint the chiefs of the armed services, he refused to consider the matter: "I am an intransigent defender of the prerogatives of the chief of state." This time the Christian Democrats were ready to fight, and there were reports that President Frei's forces were trying to gain support for an alliance with Alessandri's National Party...
Under Allende, the nationalization of Chile's key industries is regarded as inevitable. A likely first target is Anaconda, which resisted Frei's "Chileanization" program (51% government ownership). "I don't care if there is a big private ice cream company or a big needle factory," Allende says. "That doesn't worry me. I worry about those firms that interfere with the total development of the state." He has promised "compensation," but has given no indication of what that might mean...
...that the Christian Democrats should throw their support this time to Alessandri, the runner-up. He in turn declared last week that if he should be designated President by the Congress, he would resign immediately. That would pave the way for new presidential elections in which the popular Eduardo Frei would be legally permitted to seek reelection. But so far Frei himself has refused to cooperate...