Word: valdes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...found life in the U.S. rough going. Many have only a halting command of English and few marketable skills. Moreover, Cuba's cradle-to-grave welfare system left many refugees ill prepared for America's ways. "In Cuba the state takes care of you," says Artist Luis Valdés in the flawless English he learned listening to U.S. radio stations. "Here you have to struggle...
...previous Saturday, at Santiago's Circulo Español, the city's largest club, an overflow crowd of 1,500 gathered, ostensibly to honor Christian Democratic Party President Gabriel Valdés. A former Foreign Minister under President Eduardo Frei, Valdés, 63, used the occasion to unveil a new coalition of Chile's five main parties, excluding the Communists. Calling itself the Democratic Alliance, the group demanded that Pinochet give way to a provisional government leading to elections within 18 months...
...mere fact that 1,500 politicians and their supporters had assembled safely in the same room was an event in itself. Officially, political parties are still banned; until a few months ago, such a meeting would have been unthinkable. In uniting the usually fractious opposition, Valdés hoped to convince Pinochet that the alliance offered a valid alternative to a nation staggered with debt and unemployment and locked in an often brutal cycle of protest and repression...
...With Valdés calling for dialogue, the stage was now set for the government's response. It came four days later, when Pinochet, 67, stood wearily at attention in La Moneda Palace to the recorded strains of Chile's national anthem. The stocky, graying dictator stared impassively at the ceiling as the names of seven new Cabinet ministers were announced. The ceremony at first appeared depressingly familiar: it was the fifth Cabinet shuffle within 16 months, the 33rd in the decade since Pinochet seized power...
...addition, the authorities arrested Chile's most distinguished opposition figure, Christian Democratic Party President Gabriel Valdés. He and two other party officials were held for five days of questioning after they had appeared in court to testify on behalf of youths caught with 700,000 leaflets endorsing the protests. The arrest may have been a mistake. A crowd of 500 jammed Santiago's Supreme Court building to hear a lawyer read a statement signed by 1,000 prominent Chileans calling for Valdés' release. Said a Socialist politician: "The dictatorship has unwillingly made...