Annotations for Countries: England

Argentina, Guatemala, and Venezuela, all of which have territorial disputes with Britain or former British colonies, strongly opposed Britain's application for permanent observer status at the Organization of American States. Venezuela also raised the issue of colonialism, which was criticized by Brazil and Peru on the grounds that other colonial countries such as Portugal have been granted observer status as a matter of routine. They also pointed out that Britain gave regular technical assistance to the OAS.

Excélsior reports that the People's Republic of China and Mexico have signed a commercial agreement, the first in history between the two countries. The agreement involves immediate sales to China of more than $370 million dollars in Mexican products and was reached during President Echeverria's recent trip to China.

The Miami Herald reports another result of Echeverria's trip. President Luis Echeverria of Mexico gained a diplomatic success today with the announcement by his government that China will sign a treaty assuring Latin America of freedom from nuclear weapons. A spokesman for the Echeverria government in China said, Chairman Mao of China will sign the Treaty of Tlatelolco in all its meanings. The pact, signed by Latin American nations in 1967, bans nuclear arms from all of Latin America. This is the first time one of the five nuclear powers has said it would sign all of the treaty. Until now, China has refused to sign the agreement if their other powers did not approve it without restrictions. The United States and Great Britain have signed only parts of the pact, while France and Russia have agreed to none of it as yet.

Also concerning Chile, according to the Latin American reporter for The Guardian, the military junta in Chile has placed under house arrest the Chilean Air Force General, Alberto Bachelet, pending charges of incitement to rebellion. That announcement by the military in Chile is the first official admission that members of the military high command had refused to participate in the coup that overthrew the constitutional government in Chile. In a further report on Chile, the Chilean Press Association has asked the military junta about the death of a newsman, Carlos Berger, who was shot while supposedly attempting to escape.

Also, the body of another journalist, Duit Bascunan, was found in the desert. Military spokesmen said that he had probably died of starvation. In other news relevant to Chile from Britain, The Guardian reports that the British Labor Party, the labor union organizations at the Tyneside Shipyards in Britain, have called for refusal to work on two destroyers, which are scheduled when refitted to be turned over to the Chilean junta. The Chilean cruise for the vessels have not been allowed to communicate with the press or with the local townspeople.

Also, from Britain, The Guardian reports that the dock workers at Merseyside have agreed not to handle any cargoes bound for the junta, including Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft awaiting shipment. The Liverpool City Council had voted overwhelmingly to ban all purchases by the city of Chilean goods until "the complete return of civil and political rights in Chile". And in Italy, The Guardian reports that a coalition of groups has raised over $120,000 for the movement of the revolutionary left, known as the MIR, in Chile, and contributions are continuing at the rate of over $1,000 a day for the support of resistance to the military junta in Chile. That report from the international reporters of The Guardian. 

Excelsior, one of Mexico City's leading dailies, reports that the United Nations General Assembly, by a huge majority December 14th, approved a committee report declaring Puerto Rico was in fact a colony of the United States, not an independent country. The vote was 104 to five, with 19 abstentions. The opposing votes were cast by the United States, Britain, France, Portugal, and South Africa. The vote showed that the great majority of the world's countries were not persuaded by US propaganda that Puerto Rico is a free-associated state, an independent country whose people voluntarily choose to live under US hegemony. 

Ricardo Alarcón, Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, played a leading role in support of the resolution during the more than three months of diplomatic struggle within the world body prior to the final vote. Juan Marie Bras, head of the Puerto Rican Socialist Party, and Rubén Berrios of the Puerto Rican Independence Party spoke to the United Nations Committee on decolonization in late August. The US and its few allies on this question bitterly opposed the campaign at every step. At the last minute, the US succeeded in delaying the general assemblies vote by a few days. But the defeat, when it came, was overwhelming. The vote marks an epic in the struggle by Puerto Rican independence forces for international recognition. 

It signifies that in the view of the world body, Puerto Rico is similar to Angola, Mozambique, and other territories directly ruled and occupied by a foreign power. This according to United Nation principles means the people of the island nation have the same legitimate right to rise up against their foreign rulers, as do the people in Portuguese-occupied Africa and other colonial territories. During the debate, speakers exposed to the whole range of United States domination and exploitation of the island, including manipulation and financing of political parties and governments, military occupation of huge bases, repression of patriots, brutal treatment of prisoners, and wholesale economic pillage by United States Corporation. This story from Excelsior of Mexico City. 

Today's feature is the energy crisis as seen from Latin America. 

Amid varied opinions as to the causes and effects of the oil crisis certain facts stand out. Importing countries cannot absorb increased prices and inflation is inevitable. 

According to Latin America, a British weekly of political and economic affairs, Peru, which imports 35% of its oil and has sold it on the internal market without a price rise for more than a decade is faced with a problem. How can the inevitable price rise, now scheduled for January, avoid hitting the poorest sections of the community? This is a particularly delicate problem for the government since it is suffering from the most serious crisis of confidence it has known in the past years. 

Peru's long-term problem is not so serious. The Amazon field should be producing significantly by 1975 when Peru aims to be self-sufficient and exploration is going ahead offshore. 

Colombia has the opposite problem, currently self-sufficient it is likely to be importing oil by 1975. Here too the internal price is subsidized heavily and a price rise in spite of government denial seems imminent. 

Some increase in inflation is inevitable in Mexico where the domestic price of petrol has been put up 70% and gas has gone up by more than 100%. 

Opinion in some quarters of Mexico is particularly bitter and Miguel Zwionsek in a December 31st editorial in Excélsior, one of Mexico City's leading dailies, lays the blame for the crisis at the feet of the transnational oil companies as he declares: 

"Before the Arab Rebellion, and for the last 50 years through the control of petroleum reserves in the Mideast by the seven Sisters Oil consortium, crude oil prices were unilaterally fixed by the international oil oligopoly without any regard to so-called market forces. The World Oil oligopoly manages petroleum prices at its pleasure. If these phenomena do not fit well in the idyllic tail of a free world of free enterprise, so much the worse for those who take the story seriously."

Mr. Zwionsek to clarify this charge, continues by saying that: 

I have here a somewhat indiscreet declaration of the Royal Dutch Shell President made in London, December 10th. While the Arabs say that the supply to Great Britain is assured, the transnationals consider it their responsibility to manage their own world system of petroleum rationing. Translated into plain language this declaration is saying that if indeed the crude producers have beaten us, the transnational giants, the consumers will pay the bill. 

It is estimated that as oil prices double for the Third World countries, they will pay $3.8 billion more this year for petroleum imports. Thus, the weakest of the Third World countries will pay the final bill for the Arab rebellion. As was to be expected the transnationals will come out unscathed by the phantasmagorical world oil crisis. 

This editorial opinion by Miguel Zwionsek appeared in the Mexico City daily Excélsior December 31st, 1973. However, not all writers agree that only the weakest Third World countries will feel the effect. Reflecting on the crisis many are reexamining their relations with the industrial countries and their own development programs. Paulo R Shilling examining the problem in an editorial appearing in the December 28th issue of Marcha, an Uruguayan weekly, analyzes the case of Brazil. Mr. Shilling begins by declaring that: 

The Brazilian energy policy constitutes a prime example of the two development possibilities, independent or semi colonial of a developing country. The independent policy consists in evaluating one's own resources to overcome the barrier of under development. During the government of Marshall Eurico Gaspar Dutra and later under the government of the Bourgeois Alliance headed by Juscelino Kubitschek, the policy inspired by the petroleum monopolist then eager for new markets was imposed. 

New consumers of petroleum had to be created. The truly national plans for the automobile industry had aimed at meeting the basic needs of public transportation and freight transportation and the mechanization of agriculture. To the contrary, the many automobile factories which were installed in the country on shameful terms of favors and privileges are totally foreign controlled and seek exclusively easy profits without any consideration for authentic development. In fact, the number of tractors manufactured equals only 5% of the total of vehicles produced. 

As the internal market was very limited, the government succeeded, by the concession of official credit to the middle class, in artificially inflating the demand for private autos. This policy, brought to its final conclusion by the military dictatorship, caused a total deformation of Brazilian society. With a per capita income of only $500, and that very poorly distributed, Brazil is still included in the underdeveloped classification. However, by furnishing a market for the international monopolists, and winning politically, the middle class, a super structure of privilege equivalent to the most highly-developed countries, has been created. 

This massive increase in the number of vehicles, especially passenger cars, is almost solely responsible for the fantastic increase in petroleum consumption in the past few years. The situation becomes still more absurd, from the point of view of independent national development, if we consider that the fuel consumed by the passenger cars of the new rich is produced with almost completely imported petroleum. 

Having given massive admittance of the middle class to the automobile era, importation has increased five times in 13 years. For 1974, predicting an importation of 260 million barrels, the expenditure will reach the fantastic foreign underdeveloped country a sum of 2 billion US dollars. 

The enormous sacrifice of the Brazilian people, who produce more every year, and each year, consume less, at the level of the working class, to increase exports means nothing in terms of genuinely national and popular development. All the increase gained in 1973 will be destined for the acquisition of fuel in order to offer the new Brazilian rich a level of comfort equal to that of the developed countries. Mr. Shilling speculates why this policy is allowed to continue. 

Up till now, the Brazilian government has not taken any steps to limit the consumption of petroleum derivatives. How can it be done without affecting the euphoria of the rich and middle classes, the base that sustains the government? How can it be done without prejudicing the sales of the automobile monopolies? How can it be done without disturbing those states within the state, which, like Volkswagen, have a budget greater than that of various states of the Federal Republic of Brazil? How can it be done without tarnishing the image of the Brazilian miracle abroad, fundamental to obtain more investments and loans? 

As an alternative Mr. Shilling concludes by suggesting that the effects of the crisis: 

Could as well always be regulated by our governments, which, revealing a minimum of independence, might break with the seven sisters, British Petroleum, Shell, Exxon, Chevron, Texaco, Gulf, and Mobil, and take steps to negotiate directly with the state organizations of the producing countries. Eliminating the predatory intermediary would assure a complete supply and the impact of price increases would be less. The increase in importations could be eliminated in part by drastic restrictions on the extravagant use of petroleum derivatives and with an offensive of higher prices on the raw materials which we export. Those who will be the scapegoats in this case would be the imperialist countries. 

Mr. Paulo R. Shillings editorial appeared in the December 28th '73 issue of Marcha, published weekly in Uruguay. 

From Brazil itself, Opinião of January 7th, 1974 reports that Brazil is feeling the Arab oil boycott. On the 27th of December, the National Petroleum Council approved a 19% price increase for ethol, 16.8% for regular gas, 8.5% for diesel fuel. According to an official of the council, increases for gasoline, which is destined for individual consumption, are higher than those of diesel and other combustibles, which have a greater effect on the economy. 

But the January 14th Opinião cautions that because the Brazilian economic model is so tied with the world economy, the Brazilian economy will always reflect the general tendencies of the world capitalist system, and the Arab petroleum boycott brought great uncertainty about Brazilian economic prospects for 1974. In 1973, for the first time in recent years, it was not easy to resolve certain contradictions. For example, between growth of exports and supplying the internal market between inflation and excessive influx of foreign capital. 

How will the current oil shortage affect Brazil? Opinião explains that in many advanced countries, a decrease in production has already been noted because of the oil shortage. As a result, they require less materials. In Brazil's case, the growth of gross domestic product is closely related to growth of exports. The probable decline in exports in '74 will provoke a decline in gross domestic product. Along with probable decreasing exports, the higher price of petroleum will reflect itself in almost all of Brazil's imports, freight costs, as well as doubling petroleum prices themselves.

Opinião concludes that to a certain degree, Brazil's economic problems are a result of the advances it has achieved in its interaction with the world economy. If the increases of imports and exports obtained in the last few years, aided by foreign credit facilities, permitted the maintenance of a high-economic growth rate, now, at this critical moment for the world market, Brazil will have to pay the price.

This from Opinião of Brazil, January 7th and 14th, 1974. 

We conclude today's feature with a speculation by Luis Ortiz Montiserio, appearing in Mexico City's Excélsior, January 14th, on the lessons to be learned from the current oil crisis. 

One is able to predict the true intention of the recent declarations of the US Secretary of Defense, who is threatening with the use of force, the Arab countries that have decreed the petroleum embargo against the West. It is curious to note that the inheritors of the democratic traditions have changed overnight into bad losers. Economic aggression, a fundamental arm in United States relations with weak countries, cannot be wielded by its former victims. The use of violence vehemently condemned by Western civilization is now being piously proposed. 

A fight with all Third World countries is impossible. To our mind, economic pressures never have been the best instrument of international relations. Today it is the producers of petroleum who use their valuable raw materials to influence international decisions. Hardly yesterday, it was those same economic pressures that the great powers manipulated to control policies and influence the weak nations. If indeed we agree that its use is dangerous, we cannot help but consider its great potential and the lesson to be taught to the great industrial powers. This editorial by Luis Ortiz Montiserio appeared at January 14th in Mexico City's daily, Excélsior. 

The feature this week is a report on recent developments in Chile under the leadership of the military junta, which came to power last September in a bloody coup overthrowing Salvador Allende's democratically elected Marxist government. The situation in Chile has been of central importance in the Latin American press for the last five months. This report is compiled from the New York Times, the Mexico City daily, Excelsior, Prensa Latina, Business Latin America, El Mercurio of Chile, and a report from the World Council of Churches. 

Excelsior reports that a representative of the International Democratic Federation of Women, who visited Santiago and other Chilean cities during the week of January 8th, told the United Nations that 80,000 people had been killed and that 150,000 people had been sent to concentration camps since the Junta came to power in September. Amnesty International had formerly estimated at least 15,000 killed and 30,000 jailed.

Amnesty International has stated more recently that despite Chilean President Pinochet's claims to have stopped the practice of torture, tortures continue each day. Prensa Latina reports that at least 25,000 students have been expelled from the universities, and an astounding 12% of the active Chilean workforce, over 200,000 people, have lost their jobs. All trade unions are forbidden. Political parties are outlawed. The right to petition is denied. The workweek has been extended. Wages remain frozen, and inflation has climbed to 800%.

The sudden drop in purchasing power and the specter of hunger in Chile have caused a dramatic shift in attitude toward the Junta, the New York Times reported late last month. Dozens of the same housewives and workers who once expressed support for the Junta are now openly critical of the new government's economic policies. A working couple with four children that earns a total of 8,000 escudos monthly, estimated that with post-coup inflation, they need 15,000 escudos a month just to feed their families.

Although the belt tightening has hit all economic classes, the Times said, it has become intolerable for the poorest Chileans who must contend with such increases as 255% for bread, 600% for cooking oil, and 800% for chicken. This month, reports Excelsior of Mexico City, the food shortage has increased so much that it is practically impossible to find bread, meat, oil, sugar, or cigarettes. Gasoline prices, meanwhile, have increased 200%.

Unemployment also continues to rise dramatically. In October 1973, there was an increase of 2,700 people without jobs. And according to statistics from the National Employment Service, unemployment grows at a rate of 1000 people per week. In public services, for example, 25% of the workers were fired. The New York Times reports that those workers who are considered politically suspect by the new government authorities and factory managers are the first to be fired. 

The result has been a severe economic hardship for workers in Chile who have no way to fight since the unions and their leaders have been outlawed. The World Council of Churches estimates that 65% of the 10 million Chilean population now simply do not earn enough to eat, 25% are able to cover basic necessities, and only 10% can afford manufactured goods. 

Excelsior of Mexico City reports that the Junta has responded to the economic crisis by promising to slash public spending, which means eliminating public sector programs in health, education, and housing instituted by the Popular Unity government. The Junta has also canceled the wage increase implemented under Allende's government. Last week, Pinochet called upon businessmen to fight inflation by stopping their unscrupulous practices. 

According to Prensa Latina, political repression in Chile appears to be entering a new stage now. In many ways, it is even more sinister than the previous terror, belying the apparent tranquility on the surface of life in Santiago. Instead of the haphazard mass slaughter of the first days, there is now a computer-like rationality and selectivity in political control and repression. Instead of dragnet operations, there is the knock on the door at midnight by the Chilean political police. Instead of the major political leaders, it is the middle level cadres who are now the hunted targets. Through the use of informers, torture, and truth drugs, Chilean military intelligence are extracting the names of local leaders and militants who are being hunted down with less fanfare, but increasing efficiency. 

Another priority of the new repression is education. Many who thought they had survived the worst period are now finding that the investigation and purge of universities and schools have just begun. Professors are being told they can either resign their posts or face military trials on absurd but dangerous charges such as inciting military mutiny. Secondary education is undergoing an equally severe purge with military principles appointed and dangerous subjects like the French Revolution eliminated from the curriculum. A similar purge is beginning in primary education while all the teachers colleges have been closed for, quote, restructuring. Teachers are being classified in permanent files with categories like, "Possibly ideologically dangerous." This will make political control easier in the future. 

While the persecution of intellectuals is accelerating, the workers who bore the brunt of the initial brutal repression, have not been spared. Again, it is the local leaders, the links between the mass base and any regional or national organization, who have become the targets of the repression. In Santiago, a sit-down strike of construction workers on the new subway to protest the tripling of prices with wages frozen was ended by a police action in which 14 of the leaders were seized and executed without a trial. In the huge [inaudible 00:20:28] cotton textile factory in Santiago, seven labor leaders were taken away by military intelligence because of verbal protests against low wages. Their fates are unknown. 

According to Prensa Latina, this new phase of political repression in Chile is featuring the crackdown on social interaction. Any party or gathering of friends carries with it the danger of a police raid and accusations of holding clandestine political meetings. The crackdown on the press continues. During the last week in January, the Junta passed a law demanding jail penalties of from 10 to 20 years for any press source publishing information on devaluation of money, shortages, and price increases or on any tendencies considered dangerous by authorities. 

Although there is no official estimate of the number of political prisoners in Chile at this time, more exact figures are available about the situation of those who sought refuge in embassies. According to a report of the World Council of Churches, some 3000 Chileans are still in UN camps, looking for countries to accept them. And many more thousands are waiting just to enter the crowded camps as the first step towards seeking asylum abroad. Even those people who were fortunate enough to take asylum in an embassy have a grim February 3rd deadline hanging over them.

If they are not out of Chile by that date, the Junta has declared that there will be no more assured safe conduct passes, and all United Nations and humanitarian refugee camps will be closed down. In the meantime, the Junta has limited the number of safe conduct passes issued. While internationally, most countries have refused to accept Chilean exiles, the United States, for example, has provided visas for one family, Great Britain for none.

The policies of the Junta continue to draw international criticism. Not only has the government received telegrams of condemnation from the World Council of Churches and the United Nations, Excelsior reports that the military government's repressive policies are now the subject of investigation by the Bertrand Russell Tribunal, an international body originally convened to investigate torture in Brazil. British trade unions have made a number of strong anti-Junta moves, including a decision not to unload Chilean goods. Also, the French government has prevented two French companies from selling tanks and electronic equipment to the Junta. 

A group of goodwill ambassadors from the Junta has been striking out all over Latin America and appears to have abandoned its tour after being expelled from Venezuela early this month. The group started by being refused visas to Mexico, which feared that its presence would provoke rioting there. The first stop was Bolivia, where the visitors broke up their own press conference because of hostile questions and insulted the journalists there. Shortly after landing in Caracas, the six ambassadors were declared undesirable visitors by the Venezuelan government and put on a plane for the Dominican Republic, according to Excelsior in Mexico City. 

International criticism and rejection of Junta representatives had led to a mounting anti-foreign campaign in the controlled Chilean press on December 5th. The front page headlines in El Mercurio proclaimed, "Chile is alone against the world." The news magazine, Ercia, recently attacked the New York Times and Newsweek, and other overseas publications it considers communist controlled, under the headline, "The False Image, Chile Abroad." Junta member, General Gustavo Leigh, wants the many military governments in Latin America to form a league for self-help and consultation. 

The only international groups trying to shore up the Juntas image are the banking and business communities. There has been a dramatic turnaround in the availability of private bank loans for Chile since the coup. Under Allende, credit had dried up and by mid-1973, was down to $30 million from a high under the previous administration of Christian Democrat Frei, of $300 million. Business Latin America states that the United States was the first to make financial overtures to the new government.

Within days of the coup, the United States Commodity Credit Corporation granted the Junta a $24 million credit line for wheat imports, followed immediately by an additional $28 million for corn. In exchange, the Junta has just announced that the banks nationalized under the Popular Unity, including the Bank of America and First National City Bank, will be returned to their private owners. Compensation will be paid to Kennecott and Anaconda, and Dow Chemical Corporation has already been handed back to petrochemical industries.

According to Prensa Latina, resistance in Chile is taking numerous and varied forms. Freshly painted forbidden slogans are appearing on the walls of Santiago. The practice of writing anti-Junta slogans on Chilean paper money has become so widespread that the Junta has declared the propagandized money illegal and valueless. Resistance is also taking more organized forms. The Jesuit wing of the Catholic Church has recently taken a public stand opposing the Junta. The major cities in Chile are presently experiencing a 60% work slowdown in opposition to the Junta. 

The major proponents of arms struggle are biding their time and preparing for the moment conditions are ripe. guerrilla warfare on a small scale, however, has already begun. Rural headquarters were established in two southern mountain regions, and the military admit to have captured only a small part of the left's arms. 

This report is compiled from the New York Times, the Mexico City daily, Excelsior, the Cuban news agency, Prensa Latina, Business Latin America, El Mercurio of Chile, and a report from the World Council of Churches. 

Our feature this week, taken from Excélsior of Mexico City and from a United Nations speech of Mrs. Hortensia Allende deals with international reaction to the policies of the military Junta of Chile. This government headed by General Augusto Pinochet came to power in a coup on September 11th, 1973. At this time, the democratically elected Marxist government of Salvador Allende was overthrown. Governments throughout the world are voicing opposition to the brutal repression, which has taken place in Chile since that time. 

Mexico City's Excélsior reports that the Mexican government, for example, has announced that it will withdraw its ambassador from Santiago. The Argentine government is also considerably annoyed with the Junta. After protests at the torture and execution of several Argentine citizens in Chile, there was an awkward border incident when Chilean Air Force planes machine-gunned a Jeep 12 miles inside Argentina. Next, a Chilean refugee was shot dead while in the garden of the Argentine embassy in Santiago; only hours later, the house of the Argentine cultural attache in Santiago was sprayed by gunfire. Nevertheless, the Argentine government continues trade with Chile, including arms, and has afforded some credits to the Junta. 

The Indian ambassador in Chile issued a protest at the treatment of refugees in the Soviet Embassy in Santiago, which is now under Indian protection since the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations with the Junta. Cuba has frozen all Chilean credits and stocks in retaliation for the attempt by the Junta to lay its hands upon $10 million deposited in London by the Cuban government for the Popular Unity Government. The Prime minister of Holland, Excélsior reports, made a radio speech severely criticizing the Chilean Junta and praising the Popular Unity Government. He suggested possible forms of aid to the resistance in Chile. Although the People's Republic of China has maintained relations with the Junta, there seems to have been some break in communication. The Chinese ambassador was recalled at the end of October and requests for the acceptance of the new Chilean ambassador to Peking have so far met with no response. Surprisingly, reports Excélsior, there have even been criticisms of the Chilean Junta in Brazil, and these have not been censored in the Brazilian press. 

The event which has drawn the most international attention to Chile recently was a speech made by Mrs. Hortensia Allende, a widow of Dr. Salvador Allende, who spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Commission in late February. It was the first time in the history of the United Nations that a representative of an opposition movement within a member state was permitted to address an official meeting of the UN. United Nations is restricted by law from discussing the internal affairs of its member nations, but the circumstances of the coup and the subsequent actions of the Junta have increasingly isolated it in the world and made the issue of Chile an international one. The following is an excerpt from the translation of the speech delivered at the UN Human Rights Commission. 

"I have not come to this tribunal distinguished delegates as the widow of the murdered President. I come before you as a representative of the International Democratic Federation of Women and above all, as a wife and mother of a destroyed Chilean home as has happened with so many others. I come before you representing hundreds of widows, thousands of orphans of a people robbed of their fundamental rights, of a nation's suffering from a state of war imposed by Pinochet's own troops, obedient servants of fascism that represents violations of each and every right, which according to the Declaration of Human Rights, all people should follow as common standards for their progress and whose compliance this commission is charged with safeguarding."

Mrs. Allende continues to describe how she feels. Each article of the UN Declaration of Human Rights is being violated in her country. According to these postulates universally accepted throughout the civilized world she says, all human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights. In my country, whose whole tradition was dedicated not only to establishing but practicing these principles, such conditions are no longer being observed. There is discrimination against the rights and dignity of individuals because of their ideology. Liberty does not exist where man is subjected to the dictates of an ignorant armed minority. 

The declaration establishes that every man has the right to life, liberty and security continues, Mrs. Allende. Distinguished delegates, I could spend days addressing you on the subject of how the fascist dictatorship in my country has outdone the worst of Hitler's Nazism. Summary executions, real or staged executions for the purpose of terrifying the victim. Executions of prisoners allegedly attempting to escape, slow death through lack of medical attention. Victims tortured to death are the order of the day under the military Junta. Genocide has been practiced in Chile. The exact figures will not be known until with the restoration of democracy in my country, the murderers are called to account. There will be another Nuremberg for them. According to numerous documented reports, the death toll is between 15 and 80,000. Within this framework, it seems unnecessary to refer to the other two rights enunciated in the Declaration of Human Rights, liberty and security do not exist in Chile. 

Mrs. Allende continues, "I would like to devote a special paragraph to the women of my country, who in different circumstances are today suffering the most humiliating and degrading oppression. Held in jails, concentration camps, or in women's houses of detention are the wives of the government ministers who, besides having their husbands imprisoned on Dawson Island, have had to spend long periods of time under house arrest, are the women members of parliament from the Popular Unity Government who have had to seek asylum and have been denied safe conduct passes. The most humble proletarian woman's husband has been fired from his job or is being persecuted, and she must wage a daily struggle for the survival of her family." 

"The Declaration of Human Rights states that slavery is prohibited, as are cruel punishment and degrading treatment. Is there any worse slavery than that which forces man to be alienated from his thoughts? Today in Chile, we suffer that form of slavery imposed by ignorant and sectarian individuals who, when they could not conquer the spiritual strength of their victims, did not hesitate to cruelly and ferociously violate those rights."

Mrs. Allende continues, "The declaration assures for all mankind equal treatment before the law and respect for the privacy of their home. Without competent orders or formal accusation, many Chileans have been and are being dragged to military prisons, their homes broken into to be submitted to trials whose procedures appear in no law, not even in the military code. Countless Chileans, after five months of illegal procedures, remain in jail or in concentration camps without benefit of trial. The concept of equal protection before the law does not exist in Chile. The jurisdiction of the court is not determined by the law these days but according to the whim of the witch hunters. I wish to stress that if the 200 Dawson Island prisoners are kept there during the Antarctic winter, we will find no more than corpses come spring as the climatic conditions are intolerable to human life and four of the prisoners are already in the military hospital in Santiago." 

Mrs. Allende said, "The Junta has also violated the international law of asylum, turning the embassies into virtual prisons for all those to whom the Junta denies a safe conduct pass for having had some length with the Popular Unity Government. They have not respected diplomatic immunity, even daring to shoot those who have sought refuge in various embassies. Concrete cases involve the embassies of Cuba, Argentina, Honduras, and Sweden. Mail and telephone calls are monitored. Members of families are held as hostages. Moreover, the military Junta has taken official possession of all the goods of the parties of the Popular Unity Coalition, as well as the property of its leaders." 

Mrs. Allende continues, reminding the delegates, "the Declaration of Human Rights establishes that all those accused of having committed a crime should be considered innocent until proven otherwise before a court. The murder of folk artist Victor Jara, the murders of various political and trade union leaders and thousands of others, the imprisonment of innumerable citizens arrested without charges, the ferocious persecution of members of the left, many of them having disappeared or executed, show that my country is not governed by law, but on the contrary, by the hollow will of sectors at the service of imperialism." 

The declaration assures to all, freedom of thought, conscience, expression, religion and association. In Chile, the political parties of the left have been declared illegal. This even includes the moderate and right-wing parties, which are in recess and under control to such extent that the leaders of the Christian Democratic Party have expressed their total inconformity with the policies of the Junta. Freedom of the press has also been eliminated. The media opposed to the Junta has been closed, and only the right wing is permitted to operate, but not without censorship. Honest men who serve the press are in concentration camps or have disappeared under the barrages of the execution squads. 

Books have been burned publicly recalling the days of the Inquisition and Nazi fascism. These incidents have been reported by the world press. The comical errors of those who have read only the titles have resulted in ignorant generals reducing scientific books to ashes. Many ministers sympathetic to the sufferings of their people have been accused of being Marxist in spite of their orthodox militancy following Jesus' example. Masons and layman alike have been tortured simply for their beliefs. It is prohibited to think, free expression is forbidden. 

Mrs. Allende said the right to free education has also been wiped away. Thousands of students have been expelled for simply having belonged to a leftist party. Young people just a few months away from obtaining their degrees have been deprived of five or more years of higher education. University rectors have been replaced by generals, non-graduates themselves. Deans of faculties respond to orders of ballistics experts. These are not gratuitous accusations, but are all of them based on ethics issued by the military Junta itself. 

"In conclusion", says Mrs. Allende, "the Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right of all men to free choice of employment, favorable working conditions, fair pay and job security. Workers must be permitted to organize freely in trade unions. Moreover, the Declaration of Human Rights states that people have the right to expect an adequate standard of living, health and wellbeing for themselves and their families. In Chile, the Central Workers Trade Union confederation, the CUT with 2,400,000 members, which on February 12th, 1974 marked 21 years of existence, has been outlawed. Trade unions have been dissolved except for the company unions. Unemployment, which under the Popular Unity Administration had shrunk to its lowest level, 3.2% is now more than 13%. In my country, the rights of the workers respected in the Declaration of Human Rights have ceased to exist." These excerpts were taken from the United Nations speech of Hortensia Allende, widow of Dr. Salvador Allende, leader of the former Popular Unity Government of Chile. 

Also, the New York Times reported that Britain announced recently that it would sell no more arms to Chile and would suspend all economic aid. The foreign secretary of the new labor government said that the government's policy was motivated by a desire to see democracy and human rights fully respected in Chile. That from the New York Times. 

The British news weekly Latin America reports that a recent decision of Chile's interior minister seems to indicate an important change within the power structure of the armed forces there. General Oscar Bonilla overruled the local military commander of San Fernando and commuted the death penalty of five members of the Chilean Socialist Party. This intervention is an indication that the Junta is planning to reorganize the country's power structure. According to Latin America, the Junta now seems to be swinging back to centralization. 

The provinces themselves are to be reorganized. The military commanders are to be made accountable to the center, and the paramilitary police force, the Carabineros, are to be integrated into the army. These are all signs that the armed forces are reorganizing the country for their perpetual control of power. Junta members have never suggested that they would step down, but in the first months after the coup, there were still some moderate elements in the army. Since then, however, these moderate officers have been weeded out. 

The power has shifted firmly into the hands of the hardliners, and there is no longer seems to be any serious debate within the armed forces about the desirability of remaining indefinitely in power. 

Excélsior of Mexico City notes that one of the Junta's main problems is dealing with international opinion. The most recent difficulties have arisen with Colombia, Venezuela, and England. Colombia recently announced the withdrawal of its ambassador from Chile. This action was brought on by Chile's violation of an agreement concerning asylum in the Colombian embassy. The Colombian ambassador has been unable to provide safe conduct passes for the prisoners in the embassy. Although Colombia's move does not represent a complete rupture of relations with Chile, it seriously strains them. 

In Venezuela, there has been a barrage of articles in magazines and newspapers denouncing the Junta. Elite, a magazine run by one of the most powerful groups of editorialists in Venezuela, recently published an article entitled "Our Black Book on Chile". The article charged that members of the armed forces who would not conspire against Allende were tortured. The moderate periodical Semana denounced the barbaric situation in Chile and claimed that the conditions in the prison camps do not begin to satisfy the terms of the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war. 

Perhaps the most serious international difficulties which have arisen lately center around Chile's relations with England. The British government has instructed Rolls-Royce to cancel its contract to overhaul aircraft engines for the Chilean Air Force and has banned the export of spare parts to Chile. This was announced by Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the House of Commons amid shouts of approval from Labor Party members. Wilson said that Rolls-Royce workers had refused to fill orders for the Chile Junta. 

Progressive circles in Britain have been demanding a full embargo on arms deliveries to the fascist regime. Their demands include cancellation of the Labor government's decision to deliver to the junta for warships that are being built in British shipyards. Wilson criticized the previous British government for their quick recognition of the military Junta. That report on events in Chile from the British news weekly, Latin America, the Mexico City daily Excélsior, and the Venezuelan newspapers Elite and Semana.