Latin American Press Review 
Program 1973-27

Speaker 1:	Welcome to the Latin American Press Review, a weekly selection and analysis of important events and issues in Latin America as seen by leading world newspapers with special emphasis on the Latin American press. This program is produced by the Latin American Policy Alternatives Group.
Speaker 2:	The right-wing forces which have been operating against Chile's President Salvador Allende finally succeeded last week when the armed forces staged a violent coup d'état and seized control of the Chilean government. The following report on events in Chile are compiled from reports from the Associated Press, the London weekly Latin America, the Mexico City daily Excelsior, and the Chilean weekly Chile Hoy.
	The coup began when the military surrounded the presidential palace last Tuesday and demanded the resignation of Allende and his Popular Unity government. Allende refused and the military attacked using tanks, troops, and air force bombers. Allende himself is dead. Chilean military and police say he killed himself, although others believe he was murdered. The Chilean ambassador to Great Britain said that he personally challenged the military's story. Allende was buried in a small family funeral on Wednesday.
Speaker 1:	The military leaders closed all government radio and television stations and imposed press censorship. Martial law has been declared and there are reports that any civilians found with arms are being executed on the spot. Obviously intent on crushing all opposition, the military has also burned the Socialist Party headquarters.
	It was originally announced that a four man junta would rule the country. Since then, the head of the junta has proclaimed himself president and congress is to remain in recess until further notice.
Speaker 2:	The military says that things have returned to normal in Chile, but at the time this program was recorded, there were still reports of considerable resistance. One battle was reported on the outskirts of Santiago in a factory, and snipers have been firing from buildings throughout the city. Reports of casualties run as high as 4,000 dead. The military has been arresting hundreds of socialists and communist leaders, supposedly for questioning only, and they have been threatening to blow up any building containing snipers or resistors.
Speaker 1:	Talk of a military coup in this troubled country has been abundant ever since General Carlos Prats resigned as minister of the defense and head of the military in late August. Prats was a strict constitutionalist and a well-known opponent of military intervention against the elected government.
	Meanwhile, early this month, the crippling truck owner strike remained unsettled and was accompanied by increasing violence. The fanaticism of Allende's right-wing opponents was revealed two weeks ago when Roberto Thieme, the leader of the revolutionary Fatherland and Freedom Organization was arrested. Thieme who was wanted for a collaboration in the attempted coup last June admitted that the truck owner strike was planned and launched solely to overthrow the government. Thieme also said that the Fatherland and Freedom Organization planned sabotage attacks in connection with the strike and that they had taken part in the assassinations in July of Allende's naval aide-de-camp. He further said that they had made great efforts to strengthen rightist forces in the military.
Speaker 2:	The crisis deepened last week when the Christian Democrats, Chile's major opposition party, reversed its position and joined with right-wing parties, including Fatherland and Liberty in the Chilean Congress and offered a resolution calling for Allende's resignation. Eduardo Frei, a Christian Democrat and former president of Chile, issued a statement in which he blamed Allende for all of Chile's problems and he seemed willing to support a military coup.
	The military seems to have been preparing for the coup for the past three months, in that it has been systematically removing arms from civilians, especially in factories in which Allende's support has been the strongest. These arms seizures, the sudden rightward swing of the Christian Democrats, and Thieme's detailed description of the Fatherland and Freedom's activities, almost make it seem as if the coup were a well-orchestrated plan, of which many were aware.
Speaker 1:	Allende of course observed these developments too, and last week he canceled his trip to the Non-Aligned Countries Conference in Algiers and had several emergency meetings with military leaders, his cabinet and members of the Popular Unity Coalition. With leaders of the armed forces, Allende discussed reform of laws regulating the military's activities.
	According to the Mexico City daily Excelsior, Allende told other government leaders that only two things could solve the crisis. A dialogue with the Christian Democrats or a national plebiscite. The dialogue with the Christian Democrats was out of the question since they had thrown their forces behind the right.
Speaker 2:	A plebiscite would have helped since Allende's Popular Unity Coalition had done increasingly well at the polls since it captured the presidency three years ago. Anti-government strikes including the recent truck owner strike and brief sympathy strikes by lawyers, engineers, and technicians have been among relatively small well-paid sectors of the Chilean workforce and these groups would not likely have countered Allende's working class strength in a national election. However, not all sectors of the Popular Unity Coalition could agree on a plebiscite and measures were not adopted in time.
Speaker 1:	Reports from unidentified sources within the United States government say that the US was in informed of the coup a full two days before it happened and that the Nixon administration supported the actions of the military. Government spokesmen have denied the report saying that no US government agencies had any prior knowledge or complicity in the coup.
	Juan Peron, who will almost certainly be elected president of Argentina next month, said that while he does not have the evidence to prove it, he believes the United States government engineered the coup. Others believe that while the United States may not have been directly involved in the coup itself, the United States and its US corporations have at least indirectly contributed to the downfall of the Popular Unity government. For one thing, when the Popular Unity government came to power, the United States cut off all economic aid to the country, but doubled the amount of money given to the Chilean military.
Speaker 2:	When Chile nationalized the United States copper companies two years ago, the US demanded compensation for the property. Allende politely responded that since the excess profits removed from Chile at a rate of 52% above investment a year by the copper companies was far greater than the value of the company's holdings, there would be no compensation. Since then, Kennecott, a huge American copper company, has filed suits in French, German, and Italian courts trying to stop companies in those countries from buying Chilean copper, thus denying Chile valuable export earnings.
	Even more importantly, the United States government has used its powerful influence to stop all loans and credits to Chile from multilateral lending agencies such as the Import-Export Bank, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Many of these loans, especially those from the Import-Export Bank, are not really loans as such, but simple credits which allow the nation to make purchases from companies in larger nations on the basis of repayment within 30 to 90 days.
Speaker 1:	When these credits were cut off, Chile had to find large amounts of foreign currencies in advance in order to make such purchases. Often unable to get such amounts, Chile has been faced with shortages of many essential imported goods. Thus, for example, the shortage of replacement parts for cars, trucks, and buses, which led to the transportation owner strike, which eventually precipitated the coup, can be traced directly to United States policy within these multilateral lending agencies.
	The same mechanisms have also led to shortages of food and other essentials which has heightened Chile's inflation. It is perhaps for these reasons that Allende told the United Nations last December that the US is waging economic war on Chile.
Speaker 2:	Also in March of 1972, documents were revealed which showed that IT&T had contributed heavily to the campaign funds of Allende's opponents, and Allende has been bitterly resentful of what he calls IT&T's attempts to foment a civil war in his country. For instance, IT&T was said to have put $500,000 into Chile's opponent's campaign chest in 1968.
	Some groups around the country who have been critical of US policy have staged protest rallies in the United States, in Paris and in other countries in Latin America, and have frequently quoted the statement issued by Allende as the military was attacking the presidential palace only hours before his death. Allende said, "I will not resign. I will not do it. I am ready to resist with whatever means, even at the cost of my life, in that this serves as a lesson in the ignominious history of those who have strength but not reason."
	This report on the coup in Chile was compiled from reports from the Mexico City daily Excelsior, the London weekly Latin America, the Associated Press, and the Chile weekly Chile Hoy.
Speaker 1:	Excelsior also reports that Algeria was converted into the capital of the Third World last week when it became the seat of the fourth conference of the Organization of Non-Aligned Countries. Statement from the Latin American countries of Cuba, Peru, Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad-Tobago, Brazil, Chile, and Argentina joined heads of state from more than 70 other Third World countries. Mexico, Panama and Ecuador and Venezuela participated only as active observers.
Speaker 2:	The organization represents a major front of underdeveloped nations against today's superpowers. Since 1970, when the Non-Aligned Movement began relating its position to the realities of the global economic system, its conferences have become increasingly relevant and outspoken. It is the first such event at which Latin Americans will have a dominant impact. Latin America's reluctance to identify itself with the movement in the past in part had to do with its ignorance of African and Asian struggles and its willingness to identify its future development with that of Europe and the United States. Another powerful force was the fact that Latin America could scarcely be defined as non-aligned since the Monroe Doctrine.
Speaker 1:	The Non-Aligned Countries' fundamental objective of unifying the struggle against colonialism and racism was sounded in these generally approved recommendations. The right to sovereignty over their own national resources, the regulation of developmental investments, common rules of treatment for foreign capitalists, regulations over exporting of foreign profits, and concrete means to control the operations of multinational corporations.
Speaker 2:	The struggle for the economic nationalism was a dynamic theme enunciated by the Latin Americans. Chile exhorted the Third World to form a common front to restrain the excesses of multinationals and affirm their rights to nationalize foreign corporations when necessary for the public interest.
	Peru advocated the adoption of a worldwide plan to give coastal countries a 200-mile jurisdiction over their ocean shores as a means of affirming maritime rights. Panama reiterating its stand against imperialism harshly attacked the United States for its possessions in the canal zone. The idea proposed by the Peruvian Prime Minister Jarrin that the US-Russian detente signifies a solidarity of terror, threatening the Third World with economic aggression was generally approved.
Speaker 1:	Also met with hardy acceptance was Castro's announcement that he has broken diplomatic relations with Israel. He condemned Israel for its continued occupation of Arab lands. At the same time as they unified their struggle against new forms of dominance and exploitation, the Third World countries agreed to the necessity of assuming their own responsibilities, analyzing their weaknesses and strengthening their countries in order to defend themselves against the imperialist and economic aggression. That from Excelsior.
Speaker 2:	Excelsior of Mexico also reports that Argentina has decided to support the Peruvian project to reform the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Support. The Peruvian resolution calls for a deletion of what it calls a list of justifications for economic aggression. The project was submitted by Peru at the Special Reform Commission of the Inter-American System of the Organization of American States meeting in Washington DC.
	Argentina's ambassador stated that his country supports with special interest the idea of collective action in cases of economic aggression. He pointed out that the Peruvian project would amplify the area of action available to the members in time to reduce the concrete cases of armed aggression.
Speaker 1:	Peru's delegation insisted that all political and ideological clauses be eliminated from the treaty and suggested that a permanent council for progress be implemented to ensure economic security.
	Meanwhile, in Caracas at the 10th Annual Conference of the Inter-American Army, Peru accused the United States of accusing Latin American armed forces to serve its own purposes. At the same conference, the Brazilian representation represented the opposite thesis regarding the position to modify the Reciprocal Support Treaty. They stated that, "Our enemy continues to be the international communist movement." This proclamation by the Brazilian generals was interpreted by observers to be a denunciation of the Peruvian project.
Speaker 2:	Also, meeting in Caracas was the Confederation of Latin American Workers who claimed militarism is in the service of exploitation. They cited the military governments of Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Nicaragua as examples. The workers stated that militarism in Latin America has institutionalized dependence and alienation. That report from Excelsior.
Speaker 1:	The British news weekly, Latin America, reports from Argentina that the Juventud Peronista, the youth wing of the Peronist movement, seems to be on the way to consolidating its position in the movement and that Jose Lopez Rega, the most intransigent foe of the young militants, has lost ground decisively.
Speaker 2:	As background information, it should be remembered that the Peronist Party received a massive electoral vote in the first free elections after years of harsh right-wing military rule. It was the activity of numerous guerrilla organizations, usually composed of younger militants, which deserved considerable credit for the forcing of the military to allow elections. However, the Peronist movement as a whole is an amalgam of great diversity, including many who hold onto the name of Peron, many who supported the Peronists in expectation of social justice, but also some very conservative nationalists who border on being fascists.
Speaker 1:	Consequently, after the Peronist electoral victory, there was considerable turmoil in the movement and Peron soon began to chastise and caution the more militant left elements to the point of almost excluding them from party councils. However, the Peronist youth recently moved to generally accept the Peronists' broad front strategy and Peron began a rapprochement with the Peronist youth.
Speaker 2:	You are listening to Latin American Press Review, a weekly selection and analysis of important events and issues in Latin America. This program is produced by the Latin American Policy Alternatives Group. Comments and suggestions about the program are welcome and may be sent to us at 2205 San Antonio Street, Austin, Texas. This program is distributed by Communication Center, the University of Texas at Austin.
	This week's feature is on the recent history of US press coverage of Chile. We will be drawing on an article printed in the magazine, The Nation, in January of 1973 by John Pollock of the Department of Sociology and Political Science, Rutgers University. Dr. Pollock is also a member of the Chile Research Group in Livingston, has done research in Chile, and has been specializing in the US press coverage of Chile.
Speaker 1:	Mr. Pollock's analysis opens with the US press coverage of Dr. Allende's speech at the United Nations in December of 1972.
Speaker 2:	Typical press coverage of Allende's visit is best examined by referring to the major US newspapers which report regularly on Latin American affairs. The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, the Miami Herald, and the Los Angeles Times. These papers generally included the following information in reports on Allende's speech.
	One, he called Chile the victim of serious economic aggression by US corporations, banks, and governmental agencies, accomplished through denial of previously available loans, interference by IT&T in Chile's internal affairs, and a boycott of Chile's copper in foreign markets.
	Also, he called the economic blockade of his country an infringement of Chile's sovereignty condemned by United Nations resolutions and a problem for all Third World countries, and that IT&T and Kennecott denied any efforts at interference in Chile's internal affairs or any other wrongdoing.
Speaker 1:	Mr. Pollock continues noting that divergent opinions were presented, but the appearance of balance was specious. Although President Allende's views and those of US ambassador to the United Nations, George Bush, as well as those of IT&T and Kennecott copper companies were all mentioned, none of the opinions was investigated or tested in any serious way.
	These leading newspapers did not simply fail to weigh evidence regarding the charges made, they never raised any serious questions about the charges at all. The overall impression was given that Allende was pandering to an automatic anti-American sentiment, easily aroused in an audience comprised largely of Third World countries.
Speaker 2:	The New York Times had the gall to run an editorial titled, "What Allende left out." For those unfamiliar with recent developments in Chile or with the press coverage of them, the Times editorial might have appeared reasonable, but close examination of political events there and the reporting of them yields a quite different impression. It is not Allende but the United States press which has left out a great deal.
Speaker 1:	None of the newspapers had prepared readers for Allende's visit with substantial background information on Chile and its concerns. None of them mentioned that in stops en route in Peru and Mexico, Allende had been accorded tumultuous welcomes.
	Referring to IT&T activities in Chile, three of the newspapers, including The New York Times, failed to mention IT&T correspondence revealed by Jack Anderson and never denied by IT&T, which implicated that company in efforts to topple the Allende government, and only the Miami Herald linked IT&T to reports of specific subversive terrorist activities culminating in the assassination of Chile's General René Schneider, the army commander-in-chief.
Speaker 2:	Only one newspaper, The Wall Street Journal noted that Allende nationalizations actions were legal, having been authorized by a constitutional amendment passed unanimously by the Chilean Congress in January of 1971, which set forth procedures for expropriating mines owned by Anaconda and Kennecott. The most important provision as reported by the Journal was that any profits since 1955 in excess of 12% of the concerns' investments in Chile should be deducted from the payment of the expropriated properties.
	The Journal was alone again in devoting substantial attention to Allende's claim that Kennecott had arranged a boycott of Chile's copper exports to European ports. In fact, it was the only paper which considered the issue of corporation induced embargoes against small countries sufficiently important to explore in any detail.
	Nor did any paper attempt to determine, and only The New York Times mentioned at all, whether Kennecott Copper had indeed made astronomical profits in Chile. According to the Times, Allende charged that from 1955 to 1970, Kennecott had made an annual average profit of 52.8% on its investment. That higher return would doubtless have had provoked substantial comment if reported in any context other than that of Allende's critical speech.
Speaker 1:	The omission of important questions was not the only striking tendency in press reporting on Allende's UN presentation. Also evident were characterizations of the Chilean president as essentially insincere and duplicitous. Suggestions that he was more concerned with maintaining an act, charade or a popular posture than with accomplishing what he has often claimed to care about, the achievement of socialism within a democratic framework.
Speaker 2:	Noteworthy in this connection was The New York Times editorial with reference to Allende's "cleverness" at the UN. A Washington Post editorial tried to dismiss Allende's presentation as full of "inflammatory tinsel" insinuating "that the beleaguered Chile's beleaguered president did unfortunately, the easy popular thing. Mr. Allende indulged in dubious and gaudy rhetoric." Such characterizations hint that the Chilean president is ineffectual and ridiculous, not to be taken seriously by serious people.
Speaker 1:	Mr. Pollock continues, "The crucial questions left unasked and the belittling of the report of Allende presented in press reports, especially in the editorials of two of the nation's foremost opinion shapers, The Washington Post and The New York Times, are not simply troublesome elements in the press coverage of a single event. Rather, they are part of a consistent set of themes and omissions periodically evident in reporting on Chile ever since Allende's election in September 1970. Careful analysis of that reporting reveal several disturbing tendencies."
Speaker 2:	One, our newspapers have usually omitted information on the vast minority of Chileans. Most reporting on citizens' reaction to the Allende regime is based upon interviews with privileged national business leaders, large landowners or owners of medium-sized firms. The results of such interviews, anti-Allende in tone, are presented as typical of popular reaction to the new president. Seldom are opinions solicited from those most likely to support Allende. Organized labor, unorganized labor, the unemployed, farmers on small and medium-sized plots of land, and the poor generally.
Speaker 1:	A second noticeable omission in the US reporting on Chile is the failure to cover right-wing activities. Left-wing activities by contrast receive substantial since sensationalist attention. For example, many articles have been written about the threat to Chile's political system from the Left Revolutionary Movement. Genuine concern about threats to the stability of the Chilean political system would, one might suppose, stimulate press coverage of political activity on both the left and the right. Yet even a cursory review of press reports will disabuse any one of that assumption.
	Activities of the right extremist organizations such as Partido Retard which trains children in the use of arms and forms secret paramilitary organizations in middle-class areas are never mentioned. Indeed, those groups are hardly even reported to exist. It is customary in addition for disruptions to be reported in a way that fails to identify the ideological persuasion of the protestors. They're presented as upset citizens while protestors presumed to be left-wing are characterized in sensationalist terms.
Speaker 2:	Consider the report of an assassination clearly by rightist forces of the army chief of staff in an effort to block Allende's ratification by the Chilean Congress, and a subsequent retaliatory assassination assumed to have been performed by the left. The New York Times correspondent wrote that, "Extremists have already produced two major crises since Allende was elected. The assassination of General Schneider, and nine months later, the assassination by left-wing terrorists of Edmundo Zujovic." The right-wing assassinations are simply assassinations. Those from the left are left-wing terrorists.
Speaker 1:	Furthermore, in reporting on the victims, there was scarcely any mention of the fact that General Schneider, the one killed by rightists, had been a major force in maintaining peaceful constitutional democratic rule, while the person killed in retaliation by the leftists had been as a previous minister of the interior directly responsible for the torture of political prisoners.
Speaker 2:	Mr. Pollock continues that suppressing information on right-wing activity extends to a near blackout on news about disruptive or distasteful activities by Allende's opponents. The most glaring example of such emissions is found in the coverage of a street demonstration by 5,000 women who in early December of 1971 protested food rationing in Santiago. The March of the Empty Pots, so-called because the participants banged empty saucepans as they marched, was reported by several papers. Only one however mentioned any clear estimate of the general social or economic origin of the women, information any reader would consider essential to assess the political implications of the march. The Christian Science Monitor noted that the sound of the marching pots was loudest in the wealthiest sections of Santiago.
Speaker 1:	In contrast to the North American papers, highly respected foreign sources did as a matter of course identify the socioeconomic origins of the women. Le Monde, the French paper, the British weekly Latin America, and Excelsior, the Mexican equivalent of The New York Times all reported that the marching women were upper middle and upper class.
	In addition, the US press reported that the women's march was led by groups of men wearing safety helmets and carrying sticks and was broken up by brigades of leftist youths wearing hard hats and carrying stones and clubs, and by an overreacting Allende who asked police to disperse the women. The foreign press, on the other hand, reported that women were led by goon squads of club wielding men, called the march a right-wing riot, and reported it broken up by police after the president and his palace had been stoned by the women.
Speaker 2:	A fourth omission, perhaps more flagrant than the others, is the virtual absence of evidence suggesting that Allende has made any social or economic progress whatsoever. News reports and editorials have abounded with dark hints that the Chilean economy and Chilean politics are on the brink of upheaval and Cassandra-like accounts bewail reports of food shortages, unemployment, inflation, and the scarcity of foreign exchange, as though economic ruin were just around the corner.
Speaker 1:	What go unreported in the United States are social and economic statistics available to any reporter who cares to examine them. There is some evidence that Chile's first year under Allende, 1971, far from inducing despair, gave reason for hope. Agricultural production doubled. The consumer price index rose at only one half the rate registered during the last year of President Frei's administration, and the construction industry grew by 9%. Unemployment, again contrary to US press reports, declined from 8.3% in December of 1970 to 4.7% a year later.
	Food shortages do exist, but they're a product not of government food austerity policy, but of the increased purchasing power of Chile's working classes. Food production has actually increased in Chile, but the working classes and the poor are buying much more.
Speaker 2:	Allende raised wages and froze prices in profits ensuring that the salary and wage segment of national income increased from 51% in 1970 to 59% in 1971. Finally, during Allende's first year, Chile's increase of gross national product was the second highest in Latin America at 8.5%. Our reporters have failed to record such indicators of progress and have fairly consistently labeled Chile's future as dismal and clouded.
Speaker 1:	The US press in reporting the economic difficulties and the food lines managed to leave the impression that the socialist leadership was at fault for the grave economic situation, whereas actually the Chilean economy had long been in crisis and Dr. Allende was elected in large part in response to the disastrous economic policy of earlier pro-US governments, and indeed the situation was quite measurably improving for broad sectors of the population after Allende's election. Up until concerted efforts by the threatened local and foreign economic interests began to disrupt the economy in hopes of fomenting unrest sufficient to cover a coup.
	In particular, the reported food shortages were not as such shortages but reflected the fact that for the first time, major sectors of the population could buy more food so that although more food was being produced, demand outpaced supply requiring rationing that upset the wealthier classes who resented the partial equalization of access to food.
Speaker 2:	We add that Dr. Allende's popularity and support was consistently growing as proven in the congressional elections. Consequently, the right-wing attempts to reimpose its control could no longer happen peacefully and concerted rightist disruption of the economy began so as to set the stage for a military coup on the pretext of restoring stability. The US press managed to leave the impression desired by foreign and national business leaders.
Speaker 1:	A fifth major omission in coverage of Chilean politics is perhaps the most obvious of all. It is difficult to talk about the State of Delaware without mentioning the Du Ponts, and it would be bizarre to talk about Montana without speculating on the role of Anaconda Copper. Yet our reporters somehow managed to write about Chile without examining the political influence of Anaconda, Kennecott Copper, and IT&T.
Speaker 2:	Mr. Pollock concludes that the omissions of information on the opinions of less affluent Chileans and the absence of reports on right-wing activity or the disruption activity by Allende's opponents, the failure to report economic and social progress where it's occurred, and the paucity of investigations of multinational corporate activity give a distorted portrait of Chilean political system.
	The foregoing feature is based upon work by Dr. John Pollock of the Department of Sociology and Political Science, Rutgers University and is available in the magazine, The Nation of January 1973.
Speaker 1:	You have been listening to the Latin American Press Review, a weekly selection and analysis of important events and issues in Latin America, as seen by leading world newspapers with special emphasis on the Latin American press. This program is produced by the Latin American Policy Alternatives Group. Comments and suggestions are welcome and may be sent to us at 2205 San Antonio Street, Austin, Texas. This program is distributed by Communication Center, University of Texas at Austin.