THE URUGUAY SCENE ONE OF LATIN AMERICA’S FEW DEMOCRACIES PUT IN PERIL –

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32382, 22 August 1970, Page 12

THE URUGUAY SCENE ONE OF LATIN AMERICA’S FEW DEMOCRACIES PUT IN PERIL -

(Reprinted from the “Economist” by arrangement)

Mr Dan Mitriorie knew the risk he was taking. This policeman, killed in cold blood by Uruguay’s urban terrorists, was in the 5 ( front line of the battle for Latin American cities. As a special adviser to> the Montevideo police, he knew he was no less a target than the secret"’ police chief who was gunned down in broad daylight in April, in a city*, where every man with a badge has become a target for the Tupamaros. He moved in a savage, shadowy world; but he met his death in the full ' glare of world publicity, a hostage of terrorists trying to extort unacceptable concessions from the Government. *

Mr Mitrione was a combatant That does not make the manner of his death any less barbarous. But it does explain ' why the Tupamaros chose him as one of their hostages 1 and then as the first to die, after President Pacheco rejected their demand for the release of all political prisoners. Their other two hostages, the Brazilian consul Mr Gomlde, and an American soil expert, Mr Claude Fly, are outsiders, as Count von Spretl in Guatemala and Mr Burke Elbrick in Brazil were outsiders. In the eyes of the world, they are innocents I dragged Into an internal conflict, and the Tupamaros preach only to the converted when they talk about an imperialist plot. Mr Mitrlone’s death has already produced a highly hostile public reaction. 1 The murder of the other two . men might cause the Tupamaros to lose further popular ■ support But the Tupamaros - may feel they have now gone i too far to turn back from ’ their demands. Concern For Image What has so far differentiated the Tupamaros from other ' urban guerrillas in Latin ' America has been their acute concern for their public ' image. They have played to the gallery while practising an exceptionally selective form of terrorism. They have preserved close contact with the trade unions, and Uruguay’s continuing econo- . mic crisis has helped them to win support by attacking the government’s system of wage controls and by harassing employers. During last year’s bank ’ strike, for example, the Tupamaros kidnapped a prominent banker, Mr Gaetano Pellegrini, and subjected him to I well publicised humiliations , during his 72 days in captiI vity. The Tupamaros have . normally preferred to dis- > credit their enemies rather I than assassinate them. Their ’ middle-class contacts and 1 their frequent raids on banks • and company offices have ] enabled them to gather evi- ' dence of corruption in high ■ places that has provided some ■ sensational scandals.

Until the killing of Mr Mitrione, the Tupamaros’ insatiable appetite for elaborate hoaxes and practical jokes had won them the popularity of star performers. They have hijacked convoys of food and turned them over to slum-dwellers. Now the days of frolic are over. The Tupamaros are gambling for high stakes.

Legality Undermined They have already succeeded in one of their tactical aims—to push the government towards repression. They have helped to undermine the legal and political institutions of a country that used to be called the Switzerland of Latin America. President Pacheco, with the approval of parliament, has just suspended individual liberties. Houses can be searched without warrants. Men can be held and sentenced without trial. Uruguay is being ruled by martial law, and the new measures go far beyond earlier emergency provisions. But repression is not merely a question of constitutional rights. Not long ago, the Uruguayan senate set up a committee to inquire into the use of torture. Its report was never made public. Some of the Tupamaros’ foreign sympathisers have already tried to make political capital out of the evidence of police torture in Uruguay by arguing that this is what has provoked and justifies violent rebellion in the country. That is false. It was the early successes of the Tupamaros that drove the government’s forces towards brutal and arbitrary practices. Strong Presidency Guerrilla violence, together with economic unrest, has also driven President Pacheco to assert his authority at the expense of parliament (where the government’s supporters have been in a minority). Uruguay’s traditionally weak executive has been replaced by the strong presidency which is needed to confront a crisis but which has outraged its moderate critics. The immediate outcome of the murder of Mr Mitrione was a determined counterinsurgency campaign. Some 15,000 policemen and soldiers combed Montevideo in an operation that was notably more successful than the similar sweep that took place in 1968 after the abduction of Mr Pereira Reverbel, a friend of the president. By midweek 20 or so Tupamaros had been arrested, including Mr Raul Sendic, the man who got the movement going back in the early 19605. They are not as easily replaceable as the Tupamaros tend to make , out. It is just possible that a stronger Montevideo police force could prove the truth of Castro’s dictum that “the city is the cemetery of revolutionaries.” Hard-line Suggested The events in Uruguay have reopened the familiar and disheartening question of the future of “open diplomacy” and of political

prisoners in Latin America. Foreign diplomata, as well as the local men of power, live increasingly in a state of siege. Diplomatic immunity survives only through the most elaborate security precautions. So some Latin American politicians are thinking about replying in kind. The “Argentine line” of calling the terrorists' bluff never seems to have worked against kidnappers outside that particular country.

Uruguay tried to evade the problem by charging terro- ■ rists as common criminals. But some hard-liners have now suggested that the only < answer is to execute all politi- ’ cal prisoners the government -» cannot afford to release. That^ 1 , would be one more twist in -J the spiral of violence in Latin 5 America. But in Uruguay, at least, • one thing is clear, the ter- >; rorists have done tnost to -• undermine the norms of * civilised behaviour. ■>