we SOS SSS SS SS ee a ee ee eee Se NS ee ee Neve Sava "ON THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF CHILE COUP ‘Solidarity is a living force’ WIA By SEAN GRIFFIN or a year on Wednesday of this ek, September 11, the people of lle have lived under the whip of “Tascist junta. Only a week after 4 Epis had been thronged in a ration of three years of the Unit Chile, the Chile of Popular Y and Salvador Allende, Chie lean imperialism allied with Militar. reaction unleashed a rej Ty coup — and in its wake a &N of fascist terror. € Chilean people have known oa before in this century — 4 ® the days of the dictator Nez, the “dictadura Ibanez” Tom 1927 to 1931, and later during the decade from 1947 to 1958 when Ommunist Party was driven 3 on, striking coal miners ed and hundreds interned in : peciate concentration camp in €sert north of Pisagua. But T before in the history of Latin Mea has a regime been so ; ~ mM its crimes against the Dle. Never before has a Latin *rican country been turned into 4 prison house, its govern- ‘a filled with executioners. Iris despite the wave of im- hment, torture and execution len th Swept up and down the struge of Chile, the roots of eile, have not been torn loose. if the savage repression, the »_“scist front composed of the F the ®an trade union movement and Bom of Popular Unity has ‘Dowers and flourishes. And the from tt Solidarity movement, World € socialist world, from the fron, 12d union movement and ey democratic peoples Situatiseere is changing the Tha stots Pag, “2S the message of Hugo ier Speaking before an dito, 01, 300 in the Templeton the in ‘um in Vancouver, marking tember anniversary of the Sep- © off 11 coup in Chile. Although B} yy ./2! newspaper in Santiago, *reurio, in an attempt to ~ the anrate the omnipotence of dheg. Zed forces, outlined hun- ila Tepressive actions in an Mice entitled “feats of war’, Strength hot constitute a show of eclay for the junta,” Facio Both as It was a show of fear. "Rctig Mperialism and Chilean ; : are seeking new ways to Paci. Power.” Mocrati Tepresenting Chile Ico in Rome and the soreness PLE IO a Aen Bas catabaD former vice president of the Central State Bank which was responsible for the fiscal policies of the Allende government, was himself subjected to the repression of the junta. In hiding for nine months in the Finnish Embassy, he was finally able to escape to Rome where he assists in building world solidarity for Chile. And solidarity actions around the world have increased. Only this week, the historic conference for world trade union solidarity with democratic Chile is taking place in Lisbon where, only months ago, trade unionists were themselves under the heel of fascism. In the weeks ahead, a youth conference is scheduled to be held in Venezuela — in condemnation of fascism in Latin America. The 48-hour boycott on Chilean transport called by the International Transport Workers Federation has been endorsed by trade unions throughout the world. “This is the greatest tribute of all in these black days,” Facio said, “Solidarity is a concrete and living force which has direct con- sequences in Chile. It has saved lives. We wish this to be clearly understood.”’ He pointed out that world protest was responsible for the junta allowing exiles to leave and called on people everywhere to ‘‘intensify solidarity with our struggle.” Faced with growing in- ternational pressure and internal resistance, the junta has resorted to greater acts of terror. “Over 200,000 have been imprisoned since mid-July,” Facio told his audience, “And each arrest has been ac- companied with terrible tortures. Fascism acts in Chile as in an occupied country — as Hitler’s SS did.”’ One police action was detailed in El Mercurio’s ‘‘feats of war’’ ar- ticle. On Saturday, August -31, troops cordoned off an entire small town and at 5 a.m., moved in to search every house. Every man over 18 was detained in a soccer stadium and some 500 were taken to police headquarters for in- terrogation and detention. ; On September 1, a similar operation was carried out in several other small towns, ac- companied again by mass arrests. The junta has also plunged the country into profound economic crisis, Facio emphasized. Inflation k Kennedy whose u goods, September 18 and 19. He reported that it has Alderman Harry Rankin, Facio’s interpreter and Hugo is raging at 176% while unem- ployment in Santiago — where traditionally it has been lower than the national average — stood at 10.3% in June’ of this year. Yet in June, 1973 under the Popular Unity government, unemployment was only 3.1% — the lowest figure in Chilean statistical history. When Allende was elected to government in 1970, unemployment stood at 8%. Production of consumer goods has dropped by 8%, and tire productiori — the indicator of heavy industrial output in Chile — has been cut by 40%. In addition to unemployment and cutbacks in production, the value of Chilean currency has plum- meted. While in 1970, the Chilean escudo stood at 48 to the US. dollar, now its value has dropped to 196 escudos to the dollar. But the most brutal economic attack is aimed at the working people of Chile. As the junta returns the economy of the country to the control of the U.S. multinational corporations, ex- ploitation has reached un- precedented levels. Facio pointed out that, taking January, 1970 as a base of 100, average income had, by 1973, reached 133. But today, nion, the ILWU, sparked the labor THE VANCOUVER CHILEAN ASSOCIATION singers. Among their son Chilean folksinger, Victor Jara, murdered by the junta only days after the coup. under Pinochet’s fascist regime, it has dwindled to less than 50. “There is a situation in my country of generalized hunger,” Facio stated. ‘“The recent econom- ic and political events are the at- tempt to impose again the interests of foreign monopolies on Chile by means of blood and terror.” Facio pointed out that the terror and repression in Chile ‘‘is not for its own sake. Fascism is the power of international capital,’’ he stated, “and without terror and repression, the regime would be unable to maintain itself.” Yet the economic situation in Chile is so brutal that it has sparked even public action in opposition. Already some strikes have broken out and though even Bl bas ts gS was One written by martyred —Sean Griffin photos small actions carry with them the terrible risk of life, walls have been secretly painted as a symbol to freedom. And despite the fact that his statements bring reprisals from the junta, Communist Party general secretary Luis Corvalan has condemned the junta to the world from his prison on Dawson Island. On September 18, the Chilean people will mark the anniversary of their independence from Spain. “That anniversary must be followed by a second in- dependence,”’ Facio declared, “freedom from _ international monopolies, and a victofy that is even deeper in content.”’ And the people of this country must be with them. Commission of jurists condemns junta’s rule The International Commission of Jurists in a report issued last week from Geneva, condemned the rule of Chile’s fascist junta. Based on evidence gathered by the IJC’s fact-finding mission to Chile, the report said the rule of the junta was completely illegal and un- constitutional. The ruling of illegality and un- constitutionality was considered an important point, because the junta -has claimed since the Sep- tember 11, 1973 coup that the military overthrow was to restore order and constitutional rule. The ICJ fact-finding mission in Chile focused its attention on the legal system at present in force throughout the country. The ICJ declared that the September 11 military coup against the legally- elected government of President Salvador Allende was inherently illegal and unconstitutional, and termed assumption by the junta of the powers of the President, its dissolution of parliament, and its proclamation of a ‘‘state of siege”’ and ‘‘state of internal war’’. All of these ICJ conclusions show that the junta legally is in the same position as any other gang of bandits who might have seized power in Chile. In some of its more detailed unconstitutional the’ PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1974—PAGE 3 conclusions, the ICJ pointed out that more than 60,000 people were arbitrarily arrested between September-March, and there were still. 10,000 people imprisoned by the end of March. It noted that lately there has been a new wave of arrests in Chile, some 12,000 people being arrested in a few weeks. In Chile today, the ICJ report said, the police are above whatever law exists and are not even ultimately responsible to the junta itself: the junta “neither knows of nor appears to be able to control their activities,” the report said. This conclusion raised the question in the minds of many observers as to whether the U.S. Central In- telligence Agency might be giving orders to the Chilean police. The present head of the Chilean polize services is Walter Rauff, a Nazi war criminal who helped to design the mobile poison-gas vans used by the Nazis. He has also been charged with responsibility for the World War II murder of 90,000 Jews near Kiev. The ICJ report issued in Geneva on Wednesday said that “savage tor- tures’ are the rule there today, with a high percentage of prisoners dying or going insane under tor- ture, and many being maimed for life by burns, cuts and blows.