File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/97-01-19.114, message 11


Date: Thu, 02 Jan 1997 17:09:46 +0100
From: Hobo <hobo-AT-iol.it>
Subject: Re: (Chile) Fuga 


At 06.03 02/01/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm forwarding the following for two reasons: (1) If you have Web access
>(I don't), you might want to see what is on the WWW page below; (2) note
>that the list, a new one, it was sent to is "marxismo-list", a
>Spanish-language list not to be confused with any of the marxism lists
>operated by Spoons. If your Spanish is better than mine ..../Jerry

here is an english article from Reuter. Bye Hobo
-------

As Chile's Jail Crisis Deepens, President Attacks Critics

Santiago, Chile (Reuter - December 31, 1996) Chile's president,
facing scathing criticism over a guerrilla jail break-out, lashed
out on Tuesday at opponents of the government's anti-terrorist
policies, saying they made it harder to combat violence.
     "We have clearly expressed our concern about the
superficiality of the criticism of the battle against terrorism",
President Eduardo Frei said in a televised end-of-year address to
the nation.
     "In practice, it has eroded the capacity of state
organisations to combat terrorism."
     Frei was originally to have spoken on Monday, but he
postponed his address following the spectacular escape by four of
Chile's most dangerous left-wing guerrillas by helicopter from a
high-security jail in Santiago.
     The helicopter, fitted with bullet-proof material, scooped
the men up in a metal basket from the jail yard in the middle of
a gun battle with prison guards.
     The break-out, which has sparked fears of a resurgence in
terrorism in Chile, plunged the centre-left coalition government
into a political crisis.
     Prison service chief Claudio Martinez resigned in disgrace
on Tuesday and the interior and justice minsters acknowledged
that they had offered to step down but their resignations were
not accepted by Frei.
     The escape, which caught the government and prison service
off-guard, underlined the need to improve Chile's
military-dominated intelligence services, Frei said.
     "Today more than ever, it is necessary to speed up our
efforts to give the country a consensual intelligence system ...
which respects democratic authority and can be efficient", he
said.
     The escape came at delicate moment for the government, which
had been heavily criticised by right-wing politicians over
allegations that state security services and the police protect
leftist guerrilla informers.
     "Talks which coalition governments have had with terrorist
groups, as well as being illegitimate, were inefficient", said
rightist senator Francisco Prat.
     "The only way to control these type of groups is to defeat
them and not negotiate with them."
     The four men belong to the Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front,
which fought an armed battle against General Augusto Pinochet's
military government and continued to operate in the first years
of democratic government in the early 1990s.
     They were convicted of crimes including a failed
assassination attempt on Pinochet in 1986 and the murder of
wight-wing senator Jaime Guzman in 1991.
     Police have been carrying out a massive hunt in the southern
suburbs of Santiago and the nearby foothills of the Andes, but
have not found any trace of the four men.
     The helicopter, which had been hired from an airfield in
Santiago, was found in a park in the south of the city together
with one of the getaway cars.
     Five people including three women who appeared to be from
the United States and two men with strong Argentine accents
rented the helicopter, said officials from the hire company.
     They first flew the aircraft to a spot south of Santiago
where the pilot, a serving police officer, was tied up and left
in a house and someone else took over the helm.
     The pilot, who was found uninjured, was being questioned by
the police. Police said they have not yet found the second
getaway vehicle used by the group.


-------------------------
collettivo infodiret(t)e
ECN - Padova
e-mail: hobo-AT-ecn.org
http://www.ecn.org/pad/



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