REPRESSION CONTINUING IN CHILE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
December 22, 2016
Document Release Date: 
August 5, 2011
Sequence Number: 
27
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
October 25, 1975
Content Type: 
OPEN SOURCE
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PDF icon CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3.pdf99.97 KB
Body: 
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3 WASH _UTGTO + POST 25 OCTOBER 197; xw.,er c~1n.;er ??n flitlv?'yY'li'.; lPrl h,,.Y !n .,t;;n? woic Is* :t'1`. cr:?o: ;IfT;Wt'. t"~t U r 1 to iir.Brl. a io'erests. :?hera ;?act been !~:k in r~r ent ra- for of ne':gnatcan~ 6 .e T."T v'ftire I. "%1e corrtoany imrn'rl}ately t.rie i to st ir up a revoiudon. In Ic, the governor of Puerto Rico considered taking over ITT's profitable but ;er;ic ed teiernoiie corop~ny. ITT thew its resources against the governor who-was de eated at the polls [n ? 1970, the Marxist Se va, or Allende, earn- pawt%^r.ng on a piarors_n of nu;?.)r,al'7.ation, won Chi;-?'s pres,teotiai elect?on. ttir y,:,t waiting to see wneiher ~e Wt!,!r, be abie to k?"c '-'is l~;ore;i;es, ITT tri--d o sa,n from taking power. ITT owner tiO per cent of the Chilean teleohnrre '_.,orrp; r y and intended to keep iu. On Oct. 23, 1970, ,T'-: s Washington vice prescient, William .1ierriam, sent a message to ? Henry A. iii;=singer in tee tou-e. ft- was a stiltec, racr,er uritr acefui demand for tough A!ner;run aetion to stop Kiss- gee endorsed a CIA- ITT corispiracy to biock AL?""do from becoming president. When this failed, the CIA began to undermine the new Aaende regime. The idea was to set him up for a fa,.. The CIA spent an admitted 5R million on the anti-Allende campaign.. -,his? helped to bring Allende's subsequent downtall. For their money, the American taxpayers now have. as an ally a military dic- tatorship-far-more oppressive than the Allende government everwas. - Since we have a proprietary interest in the story, we have continued to -keep an. eye on Chile. We have reported how the Chilean junta first turned. upon the Communists and leitists, then upon democratic leaders We baveaiso told how the junta -iorh:res political prirj,ers and burns hooks. The dictatorship . has responded by sending representatives `o W shington to assureti.S. otfscials that the repression is over and that human rights are now respected in Chile. The ugly truth is, however, that the junta. not only has renewed its repression of Aliende's- associates but of religious ---leaders and democratic politicans as well. At this moment, for example, the Chilean navy is preparing three secret trials of about 100 political prisoners in the port city of Valparaiso. Tea prominent Chileans will be charged, according to smuggled documentation, with "collaborating and participating in an illegal government." Yet it is the junta that is illegal; t:ie Allende government was legally elected and - illegally deposed. Thus the prisoners are being tried for a crime that was actually committed by their accusers. Among. those who will be hauled before the junta's kangaroo court are the following: -Perko Felipe Ramirez, 34, Housing Minister under Allende, and son-in-law of Radomiro Tomic. the Christian. Democrat who ran against Allende - in 1970. Ramirez was among those released by the junta with great fanfare a month ago. as part of its second anniversary celebration. Minutes after Ramirez walked through the prison doors, he was rearrested by navy-agents. -Andres Sepulveda. about 50, former congressman and Socialist Party leader. He was arrested after the coup, released- on Sept. 20 and . rearrested five days later.-.. -Sergio Vuskovic, 49, former mayor of Valparaiso and professor of philosophy. He also was arrested after the coup, released about Sept. 1.T and rearrested live days later. -Luis Corvaian.5ti, former senator and acknowledged Communist. Although suf- fering from, a bleeding ulcer and a serious spina; disorder, he has spent the last two years in prison. The second secret navy trial, also in the works, will bring about 5.3 political prisoners before the bar on charges of illegal arms im- portation during the Allende years. s. The third secret trial will take up vague charges of "treason" against a number of other prisoners. No one is immune it seems, from the junta's paranoiac purge - of dissenters. Last month, the military dictators zeroed in on a private church group, known as the "Com- mittee for Cooperation and Peace." which has been trying to keep track of the thousands of imprisoned Chileans. Footnote: At the urging of the Chile Solidarity Com- mittee, a District of Columbia group pushing for human rights in Chile. several members of Congress have written to junta leader Gen. Augusto Piroehet demanding that the secret trials be I stopped. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) has also asked the State Department to issue a formal protest over the Frenz expulsion. The Chilean-- embassy had no comment. ' kI975.Unired Feat we Syna,cate, Inca Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09T00207R001000030027-3