Word: junta
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...many Chileans who had earlier supported him. He claims the middle class, members of which make up a large portion of the Christian Democrats Party (PDC), has been squeezed by Pinochet's rigid "free trade" Chicago school economic policies, and that there has been a split within the ruling junta. He suggests that there are people in the U.S. and in "influential circles" in Chile who would like to see Pinochet replaced by a government formed by General Gustavo Leigh, commander of the Chilean Air Force, and Eduardo Frei, former president of Chile and a leader of the PDC, Moffitt...
...think Leigh probably thinks the economic policy is too extreme and that Pinochet's personal power is a direct threat to him," Moffitt says, adding that if one looks at the situation historically it is interesting that Pinochet has the most power in the junta because the reins of government "fell on his lap"--he was not, for the most part, involved in anti-Allende activity...
Moffitt projects three reasons for the junta's "assassination" of Letelier. First, the government was "terrified of the Democrats coming to power because of the possible cut-off of loans." In early 1976, Letelier managed to convince the Dutch government to cancel its $60 million loan to Chile. In addition he met with the heads of the dockworkers union and convinced them not to unload Chilean goods--not only in Holland but anywhere in the world. Shortly after this successful trip, Moffitt says, the Chilean press began to extensively cover Letelier's activities. He notes how Letelier and his wife...
Secondly, the junta is "almost obsessed with the fact that there are people walking around--Chileans--who know how they operate," Moffitt says, adding that every other defense minister under Allende "who knew these guys (the junta) intimately is dead, Jose Toha, Carlos Pratts, and the others...
...wife and Letelier. In addition, he and Isabel Letelier published a report last month through the Transnational Institute, an adjunct of IPS, detailing the "relationship between foreign economic assistance, private capital flows and the state of human rights in Chile since September 11, 1973, when the military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet overthrew the democratically-elected government of President Salvador Allende." One of the purposes of the report is to air "the conflicts between the officially stated human rights policy of the U.S. government and the behavior of private U.S.-based corporations and banks." Moffitt and Isabel Letelier assert...