—Sean Griffin photo

While Noranda Mines’ investments in Latin American countries prompt
little more than passing mention in the financial pages, they are a major
Scus of attention for the Vancouver Chilean Association which
Bicketed the corporation’s offices in Vancouver Monday, protesting
Noranda’s planned investment of $350 million in Chilean copper mines.

he Money, the group stated, will mean greater financial support for
the fascist junta and heightened repression for the Chilean people.

5,000 protest ICBC rates

Cont'd. from pg. 1

premiums to accident-free drivers
under 25 was ‘‘a small token,
especially when you consider that
they have to wait a full year for it.”

Norm Black of the Concerned
Citizens’ Association, which co-
sponsored the Victoria protest with
the B.C, Federation of Labor, and
the University of Victoria Alma
Mater Society, termed the
government rebate plan a “‘nicely-
timed, very lean bone.” Black was
referring to the fact that McGeer’s
announcement seemed to be a
government attempt to head off the
rally, coming as it did on the eve of
the demonstration.

Black pledged that the Victoria
rally ‘would not.be the end of the
protest movement’ saying ‘“‘we
will return to Victoria for the
opening of the legislature with

_ even more petitions.”

The petition campaign will
continue, he said, as petitioners
have reported that ‘“‘over 80 per
cent of the people ‘approached to
sign the petition do so.”

Black said that such a high
percentage of people signing the
petition indicated to him that the
péople of B.C. have lost faith in
their government. ‘‘If that isn’t a
vote of non-confidence in this
government, what is?” he asked.

About 50 members of the Van-
Couver Chilean Association

Picketed the offices of Noranda
| “ines in Vancouver this week
| Protesting the planned investment
Y Noranda of $350 million in

€’s copper mines. .

_ The investment by Noranda is
Mtended to shore up Chile’s
Sagging financial position as well
aS accelerate the program
Mitiated by the fascist junta to
€nationalize Chile’s extensive
Copper resources.

The nationalization of copper
Was a major part of the Popular
ity program’ begun under
Murdered president Salvadore
Allende and copper miners in Chile

ve been the target of some of the
Most brutal repression under the
aScist regime,
if €monstrators emphasized that

Noranda proceeds with its

Peru Maoists
isband party

The Maoist “Communist Party
Splinte. = Marxist-Leninist”, a
an €r group which broke away
eee Communist Party in 1964,
nat) to disband its party at a

Onal conference held in Lima
- “8st month,

: he decision was based on the

SSes

Conti :
tinued existence was

“not

Ustifed, histori

? cally, ideologically

°F Politically.” :

ie €mbers of the group had
ently voiced — increasing

“titicism of Peking for its foreign
icy on Latin America and for
ganization
orking people.
€ January national conference
“commended that members of the
nes organization join the
Communist Party of the
Untry, the PCP.
wopnidad, the PCP newspaper,
4 SST the action by the group,
‘ing it ‘“‘an extraordinarily
Positive political development.”

against Peru’s

Sment of the conference that “

"ying to manipulate the Maoist’

massive investment, it will
heighten the repression.
The terrible conditions under

which Chileans live were under-

_scored at a Vancouver press

conference just before the
demonstration at which two for-
mer political prisoners of the
junta, Mario Rivera, 47, a former
administrator of the port of San-
tiago, and Guillermo Rodriguez,
23, a student of architecture.

Rivera spent 14 months in a
concentration camp following the
September coup and Rodriguez
was imprisoned and tortured for
two years. Both were finally
released without any charges
being brought against them.

They gave testimony of their own
experiences and stated: “The
history of the Chilean military
dictatorship continues to be
written with the blood of the
Chilean workers and peasants.

The two men told of the almost
daily beatings and atrocities which
they were subjected to, and wit-
nesses of. Rodriguez said that in
his own case he was subjected to
“the most horrendous forms of
torture” including having his hair
burned from his head and being
sexually assaulted “when they
didn’t even know my name or who I
was.”

He said that the torture was not
designed to extract information,
but was administered for the sole
purpose of breaking the will of the
Chilean people. “It hasn’t suc-
ceeded,” he said, pula
resistance movement in Chile is

~ growing in numbers each day.”

Both Rivera and Rodriguez
expressed the belief that they were
alive today as a result of the
massive international con-
demnation and, pressure being
applied to the military junta.

Rivera said that the only way in
which the junta is able to hold the
government is through torture and
imprisonment “because the
Chilean people have never ac-
cepted Pinochet's government.

“But we can also talk of the
general torture of the people as a
whole. Salaries in Chile are the
lowest in the world, inflation is the

‘Investment by Noranda
will heighten repression’

highest in the world in Chile. There
is 25 per cent unemployment and
people are literally starving
throughout the country.

“Nobody is sure that they will
live today in Chile.”

Both men condemned the recent
announcement by Noranda mines
that they will be investing heavily
in Chile, and urged the Canadian
people to protest any involvement
in Chile by Canadian corporations.
“These Canadian companies
(which invest in Chile) take the
risk of being called imperialist,
thereby impoverishing the image
of Canada,” Rivera said.

The popular resistance has
declared that giving financial
support to the Chilean junta means
bringing even more repression
down upon the people of Chile
because the financial system of
Chile is based on the super-
exploitation of the workers.

“Tf the government, in face of the
number of signatures collected,
still refuses to sit down and
negotiate rollbacks in ICBC rates, I
would suggest that it has no
alternative other than to dissolve
the Legislature and put the whole
question to the people in the form
of an election.”

Conservative leader Scott
Wallace and defeated Liberal
candidate for Saanich, Edgar
Rhomberg, drew mixed reactions
when they spoke.

Vancouver alderman Harry
Rankin was brought to the
microphone in response to calls,
of: ‘‘We want Rankin” from a
large segment of the crowd.

Rankin echoed Guy’s charge of
government irresponsibility in not
being present when 5,000 people
came to the Legislature.

“Last week I received a lot of
publicity for calling for a work
stoppage,’’ Rankin said. ‘‘Ap-
parently McGeer and the rest of
the cabinet took me seriously and
went home.

“Frankly, I hope they never
come back,’’ he added.

Rankin said that their absence
shows that they can’t “‘stomach the
type of protest which their own
actions have brought about.”

He charged the government with
being unable to prove that ICBC
was an inefficient operation,
despite their efforts to do so. ‘‘No
corporation of this size can get on
its feet in one year as this one has
without some problems. But they
were being ironed out.”’

He called for double the number
of protesters to come back to
Victoria on March 17 for the
opening of the Legislature. ‘“There
should not be a single blade of
grass showing on this lawn on the
17th because there will be so many
people here that the entire lawn
will be covered. :

“Tt’s important that we do that,
because unless we can stop them
here with the ICBC rates this will
just be the start and they will make
it right across the board with other
cutbacks of services to people,’’ he
declared.

B.C. Tel profits
shoot to new high

B.C. Tel announced a substantial
increase in profits for the last
quarter of 1975.

The company’s’ earnings

statement released a few days ago
shows that profits in the last
quarter of 1975, after taxes,
jumped 88 percent. Overall profits
for 1975 were up by 35.9 percent
from $24,960,000 to $33909,000.

demonstrator...
ICBC

new
and new
problems for young drivers.

Victoria
meaning for

YCL rejects
rebate plan

The provincial government’s
plan to rebate 25 per cent of ICBC
insurance premiums to accident-
free drivers under 25 was con-
demned by the provincial council
of the Young Communist League
as “a lame attempt to buy off
young drivers.”’

Marty Smith, provincial
secretary of the YCL, said the
government plan “in no way’
makes amends for the fact that
drivers under 25 are being saddled
with absolutely outrageous in-
creases in premium payments.

“It’s clear to us that all Pat
McGeer and Bill Bennett are
hoping to do is silence the protest
movement that has grown up
around the ICBC increases by
dangling this carrot in front of
those who are the most adversely
affected by their sellout to the
American insurance companies.”

He added that scheme proposed
by the government would put
young drivers in a position of
having to pay up to $1000 for in-
surance coverage now with the
promise that one quarter of it will
be refunded “‘if they prove to be
good boys throughout the year.

“‘The Young Communist League
of B.C. totally rejects this effort at
bribery and will continue to work
for a legitimate roll back of all
ICBC premium increases to a
maximum of 20 per cent over the
1975 rates,” he said.

“We urge all young people who
find ‘themselves in a position of
being forced to pay this exorbitant
rates to follow the same course of
action.”

“as the popular &

E

Headed by B.C. Federation of Labor secretary Len Guy, trade unionists bring in

%

boxes of petitions into the

legislature. More than 170,000 signatures were collected calling for a rollback in Autoplan premiums but no
one in the legislature would accept them on behalf of the cabinet.
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 20, 1976—Page 3

—Sean Griffin photo