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The fact is, few people have
taken the effort to understand the
bitter trials the people of Chile
have experienced in recent times.
Fewer people yet appreciate the
enormous effort underway in the
country to mold new ways of
thinking so the citizens will not
fall prey again to the política!
demagoguery of the past.
At the core of Chile's revival is
an experiment calculated to make
present and future generations
think
first
of what is best for the
nation as a whole, instead of their
narrow self-interests.
The Ma rxist Gamble
Chile had long enjoyed compara–
tive democratic calm in a conti–
nent ripped by revolutions,
repressive dictatorships and per–
sistent política! violence. But less
than . a decade ago, the slender
republic was nearly dest royed by
interna! division, abetted by for–
eign subversion.
In the country's presidential
elections of 1970, a Marxist, Sal–
vador Allende Gossens, emerged
victorious in a three-way race.
Allende, who won barely 36 per–
cent of the vote, championed a
leftist Popular Unity coalition
spearheaded by the Socialist and
Communist parties.
Even though he lacked a clear
mandate to do so, A tiende
launched a highly unpopular pro–
gram of rapid and intensified
nationalization of industry and
agriculture.
Basic elements of Allende's
policy, however, had already been
set in motion in preceding gov-
CHILEAN
VIGNETTES- Ciockwise
from upper left: Copper mine at Chuqui–
camata; industry and agriculture exist–
ing side by side; Chile's Presiden!
Augusto Pinochet: an outdoor market; a
crowded shopping mal/ in downtown
Santiago, the capital; a huaso (cow–
boy) at rest in Chi/e's Patagonia region;
the harbar at Valparaiso, largest por!
on west coast of South America; a dock
worker in Puerto Montt.
Ctockwise lrom upper left: Bruno Barbey- Magnum: Ray·
mond Oepardon- Liaison: Villa Lobos-Liaison: Larrain–
Magnum; Jonathsn Wrighi - Llaison: Jonsthan Wright–
Lisison; Gene Hogberg-PT; Jonathan Wright -Liaison.
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