Chile’s Claim About Move Toward Democracy

The Chilean ambassador to the United States, Hernan Errazuriz, says the military dictatorship led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet is moving his country in a transition to democracy (Editorial Pages, March 30). That’s a strange claim for a regime that came to power in 1973 by overthrowing a democratically elected government.

How has the Chilean government moved toward democracy? By “disappearing” thousands of innocent people, by burning alive peaceful demonstrators, by ransacking poor neighborhoods in Gestapo-like raids, by kidnaping and torturing opposition politicians, church workers and human rights advocates, and suppressing the right of habeas corpus.

Errazuriz cites again the bogeyman of a communist revolution to justify Pinochet’s repression. But the violent left-wing opposition, including the demonstrators who disrupted the Pope’s Mass in Santiago on April 3, is dwarfed by the political parties and millions of citizens who have forsworn violence, and seek only a peaceful return to constitutional government. By stifling freedom of expression, Pinochet only serves to channel opposition into armed terrorist groups.

In 14 years, Pinochet has taken no meaningful reforms to restore the rule of law. According to Amnesty International, recent measures the Chilean junta says will improve human rights have so many exceptions that they are virtually meaningless, and the situation in Chile remains “deeply disturbing.”

Contrary to Ambassador Errazuriz’s statements, the only transition supported by the Pinochet government is one that takes Chile further and further away from democracy.

STAN LIEBERSON

Los Angeles