Barbarous treatment for political prisoners ~ Dawson Island concentration camp Dawson Island, now a concen- tration camp for the political prisoners of the fascist Chilean military junta, is located on the 54th parallel, separated from the city of Porvenir on Tierra del Fuego by Inutil Bay and from the city of Punta Arenas on the Chilean mainland by the Magel- lan Straits. The island is part of the last chains of the Andes Cordillera submerged in the Pacific. The terrain is mountainous and cov- ered with forests. A primitive road crosses the island from east to west. Because of its location, it’ is constantly swept by Antarctic winds which gather enormous strength when forced between the channels around Drake’s Pass. < JOSE TOHA, former Minister of Interior and Defense who died recently as a result of imprison- ment on-Dawson Island...» -from-the: cities. of Punta Arenas’: For many years, the island was a way-station for wolf hunters. Sheep raising was in- troduced only twenty years ago, but because of the Agrarian Re- form Law of 1971, the sheep- raising enterprise was expropri- ated and given to the Chilean Navy. The area thus became a strategic cordon with the naval “bases of Port Roro and Port Williams, both located in front of Beagle Channel. The Chilean Navy built a small port for the torpedo launches based at Port Williams, and also built bar- racks for a future Navy infantry base. : : The hard climate makes the island habitable only for six months of the year, between September and March. Average temperatures in the summer months of December, January - and February never climb above 42 degrees Fahrenheit and at - night generally drop to 20 de- grees above. The rest of the year temperatures usually drop to around 5 degrees below zero. Who are the prisoners of Dawson? The Fascist military govern- ment has not published a com- plete list of the political prisoners held in Dawson. It is believed that there are around 200, although in recent months the prisoners in forced-labor gangs have been erecting two new. barracks with a capacity for 100 beds each. ~ ‘The first prisoners to arrive at Dawson were the political, -trade-union and student leaders _MOSCOW — On March 28, the following note of the USSR Ministry of Foreign ‘Affairs was presented to the Ambassador of the PRC to the USSR, Liu Hsin- ch’uan: - oe The USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its statement to the PRC Embassy in the USSR on March 15, 1974 and the USSR Embassy in its statement to the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs on March 23 recounted the cir- cumstances of the forced land- ing in Chinese territory of So- viet frontier helicopter No. 24 with three members of the crew and requested the Chinese au- thorities to take measures to re- turn the crew and the helicop- ter. : However, regardless of the generally accepted standards of international law, the Chinese - side, distorting the facts, is try- ing to ascribe to the Soviet frontier helicopter actions it did not commit and did not intend to commit. Despite the asser- tions in the PRC’s note, there. was no reconnaissance equip- ment on board the helicopter. On Medical Mission The USSR Ministry of For- eign Affairs flatly rejects the as- sertion about the: helicopter having been deliberately sent inside Chinese territory and confirms that on March 14, this year, Soviet frontier helicopter No. 24, with three members of the crew aboard, which left for _the district south of Beleshi (Altai Territory to pick up a etOLy. : gravely ill serviceman who re- quired urgent hospitalization, ‘found itself in difficult metero- logical conditions, lost its bear- ings and, having used all fuel, made an emergency landing near the border in the territory of the PRC. This was radio-re- ported by the crew to their air- port. — The Chinese side’s assertions about the Soviet authorities systematically sending planes to intrude in the. border areas of China in the Sinkiang sector are also totally groundless. There has in fact only been one acci- dental entry into the. PRC’s air space in February 1973. This was done by an AN 2 civil avia- tion plane on regular flight be- cause it lost its bearings, of which the Chinese authorities were informed through Soviet - - frontier representatives. Distorting Facts : One gets the impression that the Chinese side, deliberately distcrting facts, is trying to use the forced landing of the Soviet frontier helicopter for “hotting up” the atmosphere of hostility towards the USSR in China and for aggravating the Soviet-Chi- nese relations. The USSR Ministry of For- eign Affairs, rejecting the pro- test of the PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, insists on the immediate return’ of the Soviet frontier helicopter and its three- man crew who made an emer- gency landing in Chinese terri- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, APRIL 26, 1974—PAGE 8 BAT EWN Of U9 SACIRI-SHBEIST DIAIDAG Party. dersecretary of Interior. and Porvenir, They were fol- lowed by the officials of the Popular Unity Government, who’ were imprisoned in a separate barracks surrounded by barbed wire and covered with zinc roofs to keep other prisoners from seeing the tortures and physical punishment meted out to the them. The barracks are made of wood and have no heating. Imprisoned in Dawson, among ‘others, are: Clodomiro Almeyda Medina, member of the Central Commit- tee of the Socialist Party and former minister of foreign rela- tions, defense and interior. .* Luis Corvalan, secretary-gen- eral of the Communist Party, CLODOMIRO ALMEYDA, for- mer Minister of Foreign Rela- tions, Defense and Interior. primary-school teacher and jour- nalist. Jose Toha Gonzalez, former minister of interior and de- fense.* : Egardo Enriquez Froedden, former minister of education and rector of the University of Con- cepcion. Anibal Palma Fourcade, for- mer minister of education, sec-. retary-general of government and housing, member of the National. Executive of the Rad- ical Party. Fernando Flores, former min- ister, secretary-general of gov- "ernment, treasury and economy, member of the Central Commit- | tee of the MAPU Workers and Peasants Party. Jose Dademartori, former min- ister of economy, member of the Central Committee of the Com- munist Party. a Daniel Vergara, former under- secretary of interior, Communist DANIEL VERGARA, former Un- / -in’ the concentration camp at Anselmo Sule, former senator and president of the Radical Party. : Enrique Kirberg, former rec- tor of the State Technical Uni- versity, Communist Party. Maximiliano Morholz, former chief of the armed forces, (re- tired), former alderman of th : Socialist Party. ; Orlando Letelier, former am- bassador to Washington, min- ister of foreign ‘affairs, interior and defense, Socialist Party. During his detention and be- cause of the severe living con-. ditions, Sergio Vuskovic Rojo, university professor and mayor of Valparaiso, died in Dawson. Transferred to Santiago be- cause of poor health were- Sen- ator Erich Schnake Silva and Carlos Lazo, both accused of “high treason.” Schnake was hospitalized four times after an equal number of brutal torture sessions. ; Senator and former secretary- general of the Socialist Party, Aniceto Rodriguez, was re- leased after four months in Dawson to which he was taken during the first days of the coup. Also released was Dr. Patricio Guijom, who has no political affiliation, and- was arrested merely because he was physician -to Allende. : Biography of Luis Corvalan Luis Corvalan, secretary-gen- eral of the Communist Party, whose life is believed to be in, danger was taken to Dawson in. ‘December *-1973°. after’ having been tortured in the Military. School of Santiago. His son, ANIBAL PALMA, former Minis- ter of Education. Luis Alberto, was arrested and Savagely tortured in the Na- tional Stadium, merely because he was his’ father’s son, Corva- lan, ‘62, is a primary school teacher by profession. - He joined the Communist Party as a youth and worked - _ under leaders such as Elias Laf- ferte, Ricardo Fonseca,’ Galo Gonzalez and Carlos Contreras. At the end of World War II he was named director of the newspaper El Siglo, official organ of the Communist Party. Throughout the hard years of 1947-49 when his party was illegal and its leaders detained Pisagua he was one .of the party’s underground leaders. In 1952 he was one of the main campaigners for the presi- dential candidacy of Socialist Senator Salvador Allende. He played a key role in the process which united . Chilean trade- union organizations, culminat- ~ 1969' he Wat of we ors ‘Isla Oawson Prensa Latina’s "” Dawson Island whet junta hold an © political prisoners conditions. ing in the creation Workers’ Confeder?” in 1953, In 1958; legalized an munist unity ‘petal the Pops a FRAP), he °" ee the candidat the Allende. In fect! general ¢ ; Party. In 1961, he wie tor for the pro ‘Concepcion ane time to repres 00 of Valparaiso a | During this © «dh d sséoretarysgenef ale »played:an impo’ ‘two world confer munist Parties in the decade of the most act! of the left-wing parties and ™ Popular Unity : presidential ele with Salvador * didate. The fascl>,_ caught up with sted where \he was “week ral October. in P before he was ile military junta 4 rvi nalists to inte} aS prove that he “good treatmen “ed {0 tortured and MOV" ig ©; where his life danger. “Jose Toha of his imprisonmes Island. Althoug ties said “he CO ‘Luis cORVALA General of the