CHILE POKER GAME

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000300500021-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2004
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: November 3, 1972
• Content Type: REPORT

ro 9/28: CIA-RDP88-013314R ,b ~ rf" er 1972
L'it4%tift A
a weekly po r tea an economic report
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volume VI number 44
STA
Chile cabinet changes + Uruguay institutional crisis + Argehnna eron may return
uentral America market + Bolivian peso + Colombia politics - + Brazil ships
Chile: poker game
s
The battle between the government and
the! opposition has now moved back to
congress, where four ministers seemed to
face certain impeachment.
A major cabinet reshuffle will be taking place in
Chile this weekend. The two ministers standing in
the congressional elections next March were ex-
pected to hand in their resignations to President
Salvador Allende on Saturday. This is the deadline
under Chile's electoral law, which requires that
candidates resign from public office 120 days before
the poll. But the prospective impeachment of four
ministers, called for this week by the opposition
alliance, the Confederacion Democri tica, in fact
resulted in Allende requesting the resignation of
the entire cabinet.
One of the ministers facing impeachment, Jaime
Suarez, the minister of the interior, was standing
in the elections and so was leaving the cabinet any-
way,. He had held the portfolio since July when the
previous minister, Hcrnan del Canto, was im-
peached by congress. Apart from Jainie Suarez, the
others accused by the opposition of violating the
constitution were Carlos Matus, the minister of
economy, Anibal Palma, the minister of education,
and Jacques Chonchol, the minister of agriculture.
Whether the charges against them are true or not,
their impeachment seemed certain. It needs only a
simple majority in both chambers of congress, and
this the opposition parties can muster. To impeach
the President, which the right-wing Partido
Nacional is also demanding, the opposition would
have to control two thirds of the seats in each
charriber; at present they are just short of this total.
But Allende may well call the opposition's bluff.
,
n co ect-
When he was forced to dismiss Jose 'I'oha and ill" evidence to charge him with illegal currency
Herman del Canto, the two previously impeached transactions and other profiteering. These rumours
ministers of the interior, he immediately gave them stung Battle to reply last week with a broadcast
other cabinet posts. Toha, in fact, is still minister denouncing military interference in politics, and
of defence, while del Canto, as one of the ministers suggesting that any officer who cooperated over
standing in the elections, was expected to resign anything at all with the Tupamaros should be
this weekend as secretary general of the govern- cashiered for `trey if ment (minister Ap!JWW"rFfQNJ e1 l?;gi 04j09/28 a 1 *0 arrmcforce, and
President can take the wind out of the opposi-
tion's sails by reshuffling his ministers before the
impeachment process is completed. Even so, the
whole business is bound to make the daily process
of government more difficult for him. The loss of
Chonchol, by far Chile's best agrarian expert, from
the ministry of agriculture, would itself be a serious
blow. And of course the prolongation of the lorry
owners' strike last weekend, when Allende broke
off negotiations because of their `excessive' political
demands, meant an added burden to the economy
-which, he has said, had already suffered to the
tune of 100 million dollars.
Uruguay: grandmother's
footsteps
With the arrest by the armed forces of
Jorge Battle, Uruguay took one more step
towards the brink of an outright con-
frontation between the civilian govern-
ment and the military.
Of all the gauntlets thrown down by the armed
forces to the civilian political establishment, none
has been so downright offensive as the arrest last
week of the prominent Colorado politician Jorge
Battle. As leader of the Unidad y Reforma faction
of the Colorado Party, a faction sometimes known
as List 15, and as a man with wide-ranging business
interests, Battle is the type of politician for whom
certain sectors of the armed forces have been
gunning for some time. Indeed rumours had been
flying about Montevideo that, with the help of
detained Tupamaros some units had bee 11
bee
 Approved For Release 2inC - 88-01314R000300500021-5
Argentina: The Paris-based committee for the
defence of Argentine political prisoners has ex-
pressed its fear that the 15 prisoners accused of
having participated in the kidnapping and killing
of the Fiat executive Oberdan Sallustro last April
will be sentenced to death. President Lanusse has
recently been emphasizing that although the six-
year-old state of siege may be lifited in November,
there is no question of abolishing the death penalty
for political crimes.
Brazil: Prensa Latina confirmed an increasing
number of unofficial reports corning out of Brazil
to the effect that the military is facing armed bands
of peasants and guerrillas in northern Goias,
western Maranhao, and southern Para. Soldiers
have been killed by guerrillas along the line of the
new trans-Amazonian highway, and a large scale
military opertaion has been mounted in an attempt
to eliminate the locos of resistance.
Chille & Mexico: The Mexican government is
following up the, agreements reached during
President Echcverrfa's visit to Chile six months
ago, and they are already bearing fruit in terms of
trade and cooperation. Mexico has backed up the
Chilean government in its dispute with the Kenne-
cott Copper Company and it is likely that President
Salvador Allende will visit Mexico in the next six
months.
Colombia: The protestant missionary organization,
which uses the title Summer Institute of Linguistics
as a cover for its operations in a number of
countries around the Amazon basin, has been given
5 years to get out of the country. The institute has
long been criticized for its activities and for its
links with extreme right-wing organizauions in the
United States. The institute is now known to fear
that Colombia's action will spark similar moves
by other governments.
Colombia: After 452 days-the longest military
trial in Colombian history-.23 army oflicers and 7
civilian employees of the army were convicted of
fraud and embezzlement. The frauds covered
several garrisons in different parts of the country
and involved a sum equivalent to more than
250,000 dollars. The sentences will not be handed
down for several weeks yet.
Cuba: The government plans to sharply increase
expenditure and effort on public health measures,
which will include investment in cleaning up the
environment and ensuring proper supplies of drink-
ing water for the entire population. This is the
only programme of its kind being undertaken any-
where in Latin America.
Cuba: The director of the national building depart-
ment said the construction industry had completed
more work during the first nine months of this year
than in the whole of the two previous years.
Improved labour productivity was reported to have
been a major factor in achieving this growth.
Grenada: A constitutional conference to discuss
independence for the island will be held in London
in May.
Mexico: The authorities have formerly charged 91
people in the state of Guerrero with participating
in guerrilla struggles against the army last August.
It is now admitted that 28 soldiers were killed and
16 wounded in the clashes.
Peru: President Velasco has announced the promo-
tion of the former foreign minister, General
Edgardo Mercado Jarrin, to the post of minister
of war find prime minister from 1 January. The
minister of war is effectively commander-in-chief
of the army and this move-long expected-places
General Mercado firmly in line to succeed Velasco
when the moment comes. Mercado has spent the
past year as chief of general staff.
Peru: Preliminary census data suggests that 3.8
million of Peru's 13.6 million inhabitants live in the
greater Lima area.
Venezuela: '1fhe Jesuit run Andres Bello university
is close to collapse following the resignation of the
rector and the rest of the university council. Their
resignations follow student protests against the
expulsion of students and teachers who were sus-
pected of holding radical political views. The
private foundation which subsidizes the university
has threatened to withdraw its support.
Published copyright by Latin American Newsletters Ltd
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352
 Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300500021-5
Approved For Release 2004/09/28 : CIA-RDP88-01314R000300500021-5