Word: frei
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Five years ago, Chile's Eduardo Frei and his Christian Democratic Party capitalized on widespread fear of a Communist election victory to capture the presidency and, in the process, polled the biggest vote ever garnered by a Chilean political party. In two subsequent elections, however, the party's appeal has skidded sharply from the 55% of the vote it drew in 1964. Last week, in the last congressional elections before the 1970 presidential campaign, the Christian Democrats slipped even farther, polling less than a third of the vote. Surprisingly, the biggest beneficiary was not Chile's active...
When all the ballots were counted last week, Frei's ruling party, which got 31% of the popular vote, had lost 27 of its 82 seats in the 150-member lower house-and its majority The Nationalists, jumping from eight to 34 seats, won 21% of the vote...
Revolution in Liberty. Frei was quick to belittle rightist gains, claiming that the National Party's one-fifth of the vote merely reflected the normal but limited strength of right-wing causes the world over. Still, there was no denying that thousands of Chileans had rebuffed his "Democratic left." While the capable and well-intentioned Frei has been able to push through some agrarian and economic reforms, his campaign slogan of 1964, "Revolution in Liberty," never really caught...
Chile is gripped by the worst, longest drought in its history, a crisis so serious that President Eduardo Frei has declared it a "national catastrophe." The drought, now in its 20th month, followed three years of earthquakes, floods and destructive storms. The harried Frei has seen his drive for progress stalled by natural disaster after disaster, as well as by stubborn political opposition and splits in his ruling Christian Democrat Party. Says he: "The drought is worse than an earthquake. An earthquake produces panic, but reconstruction means work. A drought does not produce panic, but neither does it provide work...
...Alone. Frei's government has been trying its best to alleviate the suffering, but only at great cost to the economy. Deficit spending for drought relief has intensified Chile's inflation: the rate was 30% last year. Special government relief now goes to 60,000 people; in addition, some 60,000 are out of work, and that number may well double by next month. Foreign-exchange reserves are being whittled down by costly fuel-oil and coal imports that are necessary to make up for the loss of hydroelectric power...