The Junta Wins in a Landslide

Anti-U.N. election strengthens the military

At dusk in downtown Santiago last week, cheering throngs gathered outside the Diego Portales building to celebrate the lopsided 75% vote in favor of Chile's ruling military junta in a hastily called referendum. A euphoric President Augusto Pinochet Ugarte termed the results "magnificent," and pledged, without noticeably dampening the mood of his supporters, that "there will be no more elections for ten years."

That was hardly what Chileans had voted for. Before last week's national "consultation," as the balloting was described in Chile, Pinochet had insisted that the vote had "nothing to do with internal politics." Instead, he claimed, it was a chance for Chile to send a message to the nation's international critics. Pinochet had ordered the referendum in December after passage of a U.N. General Assembly resolution that condemned Chilean authorities for "torture, disappearance of persons for political reasons, arbitrary arrest, [and] detention."

Pinochet derided the U.N. resolution as a "wicked pact," and claimed that Chile was a "victim of a base alliance of the great powers." He announced that Chileans would be asked to mark ballots yes or no in response to the following statement: "In the face of the international aggression unleashed against the government of our country. I support President Pinochet in his defense of the dignity of Chile, and reaffirm the legitimacy of the government of the Republic to lead sovereignly the process of institutionalization of the country."

The referendum was opposed by the Catholic Church and some junta members. Eduardo Frei Montalva, the Christian Democrat who was President from 1964 to 1970, broke a long silence to fight the referendum. He charged that the plebiscite was an attempt to confuse patriotism with support for the government, and refused to vote.

In fact, many Chileans, including some of the military regime's opponents, felt that the U.N. resolution unfairly discriminated against Chile. The junta had dissolved its feared National Intelligence Directorate last year, claiming that its replacement, the National Information Center, was denied the power to make arrests. But recent human rights reports, including one by the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, have noted that political detentions and unexplained disappearances of citizens continue in Chile.

Undoubtedly, Pinochet's strong hand has been strengthened by the plebiscite, much to the disappointment of the left and centrist opposition, which has been pressing for elections. There has been speculation that Pinochet irritated even his fellow junta members by courting personal political popularity (he frequently doffed his military uniform for a business suit while campaigning for the referendum). His triumph last week had its ugly aspects: after the election, bands of rightist youths chanted insults outside the homes of Christian Democratic Party Leaders Frei and Andres Zaldivar, and Zaldivar's home was stoned. More chilling perhaps were Pinochet's attacks on civilian politicians and his disdain for democratic reforms. Borrowing a military metaphor, he told a cheering Santiago crowd: "Now we have placed the artillery. This battle, which had been a withdrawal, has been transformed into a battle of annihilation." In his gloating victory statement, he addressed his civilian critics: "To them I say, politicians, it's all over for you. Today Chile is different."

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