Word: pinochets
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte...
...situation, Helms claimed, "he would send the Ambassador home." After returning to Washington last week, Helms charged that the State Department and Barnes were "trying to appease a bunch of leftists and Communists" by pushing for democratic reforms from the four-man military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet. Chile under Pinochet, said Helms, was moving toward "a stable, productive democracy...
...Senator's tirade was prompted by Barnes' presence at a funeral procession for Rodrigo Rojas de Negri, 19, a Chilean-born resident of Rockville, Md., who had been killed during a general strike against the Pinochet regime on July 2. While visiting a shantytown near Santiago, witnesses said, de Negri and a Chilean student were doused with gasoline and set on fire by uniformed men with grease-blackened faces. Riot police later tear- gassed the funeral march. The U.S. had urged Chile to investigate the murder, and last week the army announced that it had arrested 25 soldiers...
This time, however, the Reagan Administration decided that Helms had gone too far. Undercutting U.S. policy while visiting a foreign country is "indefensible," said Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American affairs. After Pinochet announced his intention to remain as President of Chile until 1997, Abrams argued that Helms might be "playing into the hands of the Communists" by supporting "an indefinite extension of military rule rather than a transition to democracy." Abrams said that he had approved Barnes' attendance at the funeral. State Department Spokesman Bernard Kalb pointedly described Barnes as "one of the most experienced...
...Pinochet government insisted that the strike had been ineffective. Nonetheless, authorities filed criminal charges against 17 walkout leaders, including Gonzalez, accusing them of subversion, and cracked down hard on the media. A total of 27 staff members from the opposition magazine Analisis were charged with antigovernment activities, and could face prison terms if convicted. Four independent radio stations, one of them run by the Roman Catholic Church, were ordered to halt news broadcasts during the protests. Strike organizers were especially encouraged by the participation of truckers. In 1973 a crippling work stoppage by drivers against the Marxist-oriented government...