A Mistaken Invitation

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The Ambassador of the Chilean Military Junta to the United States was recently invited to Boston by the Pan American Society. This visit included a luncheon at the Harvard Faculty Club on October 23, 1980. We feel it important that the Harvard Community should be aware of the economic and political atmosphere prevailing in Chile today after seven years of military dictatorship.

During the first four years of military government, the average annual growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product in Chile was 1.5 per cent (The World Bank Report; August, 1980). This figure should be contrasted to that of the 1960s (4.5 per cent) when Chile was under a democratically-elected regime. More importantly, these numbers contradict those claimed by The Junta, widely publicized in several government-paid advertisements in American newspapers. According to the Chilean National Institute of Statistics, the rate of unemployment has increased from 5.7 per cent in 1970 to 12.5 per cent in 1980. Of those who are employed, thousands earn no more than $480 (US) per year in a country whose cost of living is comparable to our own. Chile has no welfare or unemployment compensation program, no national or private health insurance system.

The political climate in Chile is no better than the economic one. All political activity, except that sponsored by The Junta, has been banned since 1973. The Chilean Commission of Human Rights reported that over a thousand persons were arrested and detained during the first six months of 1980, and another 500 during the month of July alone. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights and Amnesty International reported that arrests and torture have risen dramatically since last May, and that, again, many professors were dismissed from university positions on the basis of their political views.

Under this increasingly repressive situation, the Pinochet regime held a constitutional plebiscite on September 11, 1980 with the aim of legitimizing authoritarian rule. This vote was nothing short of a distortion of basic democratic principles. The Junta rejected the idea that alternative constitutional proposals appear on the ballot. The government required that every Chilean over 18 vote; if not, they would be imprisoned. There were no voter registration lists. If a person left his or her ballot blank, it was counted as a pro-government vote. Finally, all votes were counted by The Junta in secret with no independent observers allowed. This so-called election was severely criticized by Eduardo Frei, former Chilean president, the Chilean Catholic Church, Sen. Edward Kennedy, and by 40 U.S. congressmen led by Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). Nevertheless, it was not surprising that The Junta's constitution obtained 67 per cent of the votes.

After The Junta's takeover in 1973, Chile has become isolated in Latin America and the rest of the world. Diplomatic relations with Peru and Bolivia, among others, have been broken. The people of Chile live under the constatnt threat of war with their neighboring countries.

In light of the constant political repression and the continued violation of human rights, we feel it important that both the United States Government and Harvard University do everything in their power to relay to the Pinochet government the view that an end to human rights abuses and a complete restoration of democracy is imperative. Dale J. Benos, Ph.D.   Assistant Professor of Physiology   Jonathan Glass, M.D.   Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine   Beth Israel Hospital