Word: pinochets
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According to the FBI, however, Townley was deeply involved in Chilean politics. During the Allende years he worked for the right-wing Patria y Libertad group, and after the 1973 coup headed by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, joined the new regime's military police. Shortly before Letelier's death, Townley and a Chilean army officer, Armando Fernandez, obtained visas under the names of Williams and Romeral and made three trips...
...dusk in downtown Santiago last week, cheering throngs gathered outside the Diego Portales building to celebrate the lopsided 75% vote in favor of Chile's ruling military junta in a hastily called referendum. A euphoric President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte termed the results "magnificent," and pledged, without noticeably dampening the mood of his supporters, that "there will be no more elections for ten years...
That was hardly what Chileans had voted for. Before last week's national "consultation," as the balloting was described in Chile, Pinochet had insisted that the vote had "nothing to do with internal politics." Instead, he claimed, it was a chance for Chile to send a message to the nation's international critics. Pinochet had ordered the referendum in December after passage of a U.N. General Assembly resolution that condemned Chilean authorities for "torture, disappearance of persons for political reasons, arbitrary arrest, [and] detention...
...Pinochet derided the U.N. resolution as a "wicked pact," and claimed that Chile was a "victim of a base alliance of the great powers." He announced that Chileans would be asked to mark ballots yes or no in response to the following statement: "In the face of the international aggression unleashed against the government of our country. I support President Pinochet in his defense of the dignity of Chile, and reaffirm the legitimacy of the government of the Republic to lead sovereignly the process of institutionalization of the country...
Undoubtedly, Pinochet's strong hand has been strengthened by the plebiscite, much to the disappointment of the left and centrist opposition, which has been pressing for elections. There has been speculation that Pinochet irritated even his fellow junta members by courting personal political popularity (he frequently doffed his military uniform for a business suit while campaigning for the referendum). His triumph last week had its ugly aspects: after the election, bands of rightist youths chanted insults outside the homes of Christian Democratic Party Leaders Frei and Andres Zaldivar, and Zaldivar's home was stoned. More chilling perhaps were...