£5

World

‘No’ vote

@ tribute

to people’s power,
Says Cdn. observer

Special to The Tribune
WINNIPEG — It is a rare experience to observe, first-hand,

“people’s power’ celebrating a major victory and preparing at

: the same time to make even greater sacrifices in future struggle.
The impact is all the more powerful when the people open their

breath-taking, swirling events.

“Tt was absolutely incredible,”’ says Irene
Haigh, who was in Chile as one of the
International observers of the plebescite
Organized by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

The Oct. 5 referendum announced earlier
this year by the dictator was intended to give
an appearance of legitimacy to the regime.
A “yes” vote meant support for continued

junta rule. A “no” vote was a call for free

élections.

The No campaign chalked up a 55 per
Cent lead — an overwhleming victory in the
face of vote-rigging and intimidation.

Haigh describes being “‘swept up in the
€motions,”’ when she witnessed the ‘“‘abso-
lute sea of flags and people” at the No
Committee’s victory celebration in Santi-

go two days after the vote.

“But the bigger part was knowing this
Struggle was something you had believed in
and felt deeply about, and knowing about
the torture and the experiences of people

forced into exile.

“When you see the strength and courage

. Of the people to have come out against the

Pinochet dictatorship, against all odds, and

~ built up the momentum for such a victory, it
Teally was power of the people.

“I don’t think my emotions have ever
been quite so acute. I don’t think I’ve ever
felt so completely happy for people.”

It was a day for celebration, Haigh
Teports. “A real carnival atmosphere, but
the message was always very clear when
talking to people that there’s a long way to
80, that anything could happen in the next
few months.”

A Winnipeg school trustee, Haigh, along
With other Canadian observers —
Manitoba NDP MLA Jim Maloway, Lib-
€ral Senator Gildas Molgat and Alberta
NDP MLA Gerry Gibeault — got an indi-
Cation of Pinochet’s response when they

Pe

__ hearts and homes to a visitor, placing her in the middle of these

observed spontaneous celebrations attacked
by police with water cannon and tear gas.

While the junta formally acknowledged
the No campaign’s victory, Pinochet
appeared on television in full military dress
to announce he would remain in power for
“the full term of office” he had granted
himself.

Haigh, who spoke with people represent-
ing all sections of the opposition, said there
was agreement about the need for continu-

ing unity among the opposition forces:

which brought about the plebiscite victory.

She reports being inspired by the example
of unity among the youth, and the leader-
ship they gave in the days before and after
the vote.

“Not only are these young people very
courageous and spirited, they are also very
political and disciplined. Growing up in
conditions following 1973, they have had to
learn to survive.”

Haigh says there has been an appeal for
exiles to return and bring with them the
skills and resources they have learned
abroad. Also key is stepped-up interna-
tional pressure on Pinochet. The presence of
international observers prevented the regime
from faking or overturning the results.

The authorities turned their venom on
the outside media, and the result was televi-
sion pictures shown around the world of
police attacking foreign reporters and pho-
tographers.

One of the most important issues for Chi-
leans now is to expose the regime’s human
rights violations.

“The people say there will not be demo-
cracy until the torturers and murderers are
brought to justice. They do not want
another Argentina where the guilty go
free,” Haigh relates.

“There has to be world support for pun-

‘No’ supporters celebrate victory in Santiago.

ishment of human rights violations,” she
stresses. “Pinochet and the junta have
committed a form of genocide. The terror
takes many forms and it permeates the
whole society.”

The most gut-wrenching experiences for
the trustee were meeting the children and
families of the disappeared, the tortured
and murdered and of political prisoners fac-
ing the death sentence, .

“ Tears well up in her eyes as
one meeting with members of a divided
family and another with leaders of commit-
tees in solidarity with families and prisoners.

“Nearly all of them were young and came
to this work at first because of their own
suffering, but to see their dedication now
and the daily risks they take ...

“Hearing their experiences, I couldn’t
speak. I just broke into tears, pretty well
everybody was in tears. I went out of that
meeting carrying both their pain and their
anger, but also their hopes.”

Outside, a car was parked, its occupants
obviously wanting to be seen watching the
building. It is part of the psychological ter-
ror.

Haigh said she was able to feel the

ss ,, peared” from,there.,..
she describes

strength of the people first-hand because
she stayed with a Chilean family rather than
in a downtown hotel with the international
observer groups and the media.

The family, once in exile in Canada, lives

in La Legua, a working class district of

Santiago. It was one of the few actually
bombed by the military in the 1973 coup,
and large numbers of young people “disap-

Itis nowa very poor area, with the people
driven into poverty by the junta’s economic
policies catering to big business and interna-
tional monopolies.

But the people have maintained the spirit
of the former Popular Unity victory. “It
hasn’t died,”.says Haigh.

“There is a great love and respect for the
previous leadership who are returning from
exile, especially among the young people.
They are well-organized and they are rally-
ing.

“There is the beginnings of a new stage of
pulling peoples’ forces together. In a district
like La Legua, the level of the consciousness
of the young people, the numbers of them
and the unity among the diverse parties,
that’s what is going to carry Chile through.”

| World News

Manila conference:
‘U.S. bases out’

A Philippines’ national conference in
Manila has called for the removal of all
USS. bases from the country. The meeting
was held last weekend at the University of
the Philippines, the campus of which has
been declared a nuclear-free zone by the
Student council. Philippines Senator Wig-
berto Tanada told the meeting that there is
a need to co-ordinate the efforts of all
Progressive organizations in a campaign
to phase out all U.S. bases.

Representative Vernancio Gardus said
almost one million people have signed the
Petition demanding the ouster of the
bases. He pointed out the National

Petition campaign only six weeks ago and

Movement for Civil Liberties started'the ~

-the number of signatures collected far
exceeded all expectations. Therefore the
campaign has been extended beyond the
originally projected four months “until
our land becomes totally free of bases.”

Nicaragua moves
for peace

Foreign Minister Miguel D’Escota of
Nicaragua said last week his country
would back a United Nations-approved
plan to monitor the Honduran-Nicaraguan
border. D’Escoto, in New York to attend

- the UN General Assembly session, said he

proposed last week to UN Secretary
General Javier Perez de Cuellar to hold an
urgent meeting of the Assembly with the
“participation of the Honduran foreign
minister. The Assembly would be inform-

ed by the secretary general of the readiness
of Nicaragua and Honduras to submit a
joint proposal on creating an international
means by which to guarantee the security
of the two countries’ borders. The Nicara-
guan foreign minister said his country was
prepared to give serious consideration to
the proposal made earlier this week at the
United Nations by Honduras for a UN
force to monitor the border.

Haiti's president
meets Communists

- Haitian President Propser Avril met
Oct. 3 for close to three hours with Rene
Theodore, general secretary of Haiti’s
Communist Party, and the party’s second
in command, Maz Bourjolly.

“We talked a lot about the country and
Haiti’s democratic future,” Theodore told
reporters afterwards. “We also analyzed
the need to rebuild Haiti’s economy and in
particular the need to solve the country’s
serious social problems.”

President Avril’s meeting with Theo-
dore was the most spectacular of a series
he has held with all of Haiti’s democratic
forces. Expectations and hopes continue
to mount in Haiti that the people are on
the verge of winning their decades-long
struggle for democracy.

The CP has always been viewed by
Haitian dictators as their number one —
enemy. It has functioned underground
since 1934. Thousands of its members
have been tortured, imprisoned and killed
for fighting for basic human rights.

A rank and file rebellion within Haiti's
military catapulted Avril into the presid-
ency last month. This led to a purge of
military and civilian officials who were
linked with the U.S.-backed Duvalier dic-
tatorships and the military regimes that
followed Duvalier’s fall in February 1986.

Avril says his meetings with democratic
forces are to prepare the way for elections
and the democratization of the country. In
his most recent interview with the press.
Avril said he plans to set up an electoral
commission and hold local elections, to be
followed by general elections for president
and Parliament.

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Pacific Tribune, October 24, 1988 « 9

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