Word: leigh
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...spark for action came, said Leigh, on Sept. 9, when Socialist Party Secretary-General Carlos Altamirano admitted during a radio speech that he had urged sailors to disobey military orders. Leigh said he immediately contacted General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, the army chief of staff, now the junta leader, and told him: "I can't resist one bit more. This country is going to disaster. The only thing I ask of you is, don't shoot at my troops, don't shoot at my planes, don't fire on my bases." Pinochet's answer...
...decision to launch a coup was not an easy one, claimed Leigh, since the military had generally remained outside Chilean politics for the past 41 years. "I tell you, we sweated a lot," he said. "It was like childbirth." The speed with which Allende's government was crushed surprised even the military. "Never did we think we would rule the country so soon," Leigh admitted. "We were not prepared. Now we are in a real emergency. We have no agriculture. We are spending $600 million for food alone. We have a $4 billion debt...
...promising any easy solutions," said Leigh. "We are not saying that now the nightmare is over. We have to work hard. We will do what the politicians in the past 50 years in this country did not do. We want to reconstruct the country with our own resources, our own effort. We have made no compromises with anyone. We have our hands clean to operate. We are not politicians and we are not trying...
...Leigh defended the appointment of military delegates to control Chile's universities, saying that the schools had become "political factories. They didn't care one bit about studies. If they try to get involved in politics or with politicians, we'll close them down. They'll stay closed until they decide to study...
...Leigh hotly denied that the junta was embarked on a campaign of terror. "We have not executed anyone who is just a politician. We have executed people who have planned assassinations or who fired against the soldiers after the coup. There have been no executions of those who were arrested or detained for whatever reason other than armed resistance." As for the thousands of political prisoners, Leigh said that "right now we just want to keep them out of contact with the rest of the people. Later they will have to go before the military court and it will have...