Coup saved Chile from dictatorship

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 7

Coup saved Chile from dictatorship

The military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende of Chile in 1973 saved the country from becoming a Marxist dictatorship. said a Chilean-born Anglican bishop in Christchurch yesterday. Bishop lan Morrison, who is visiting New Zealand to publicise the activities of the Anglican Church in Chile, said that the coup itself was well planned and “there was nothing of the rivers of blood business" that had been written about. Before the coup Chile was degenerating into turmoil. ‘•You could not even send your children into the street. There was always fighting between one faction or another." he said. The choice facing the country was between a dictatorship of the Left or one of the Right, said Bishop Morrison. Life since the military took over was much better than before. Allende was the first avowed Marxist to become a head of State in a legitimate popular election. He was elected in October, 1970, and the Government went downhill quickly. Allende had been elected with only about 35 per cent of the vote and faced the hostility of large sections of his own population. The Nixon Administration was unfriendly and the Central Intelligence Agency was accused of being behind some of

the strikes and unrest that developed. As violence spread and inflation reached 1000 per cent the military staged a coup d'etat. Allende was said to have committed suicide. The New Zealand Federation of Labour has just lifted a trade ban imposed because of the alleged oppression of trade unions under the military regime.

Bishop Morrison was yesterday reluctant at first to talk about politics. The Anglican Church in Chile was politically neutral, it ministered the' Gospel to all men regardless of their political persuasion, he said. "That does not mean to say we cannot point out when it is possible an injustice is being committed," he said. The Church had refused to take part in a thanksgiving service on September 11, the anniversary of the coup. However, it was prepared to join an ecumenical service on September 18. the national day, which was celebrated by all Chileans. "Nothing much was ever said internationally about what was going on during the Marxist regime,” said Bishop Morrison.

"At university it was very difficult. Everything was politicised under the Marxist regime. To choose the secretary of a school committee became a political issue.

whether the candidate was Left or Right. "Everybody was pressuring you to be committed." Bishop Morrison acknowledged that people had died in the coup and afterwards, but they were a lot fewer than if the coup had not occurred. “I am sure we were work-

ing up to a full-fledged civil war.

"As far as the coup was concerned. I do not approve of violence in any form but it seemed to me that the coup was very well planned. It was very short. It was over within a few days, really within a day.”

Stories about C.I.A. involvement he thought were exaggerated.

“The C.I.A. it seems to me has become a useful scapegoat to blame everything on nowadays."

Asked' about trade union activity now. Bishop Morrison said that the military Government permitted unions to work • but it had depoliticised them. “They are able to present petitions and talk over their problems with the appointed sides.”

Bishop Morrison is in New Zealand to let people know of the Anglican Church’s existence in Chile and South America generally. It was only in the last 20 years that the Church had begun to proselytise in urban areas in Chile. Before that it had been confined to missionary work among the Indians and serving expatriates and other English speaking people. About 1960. when the Catholic Church acknowledged that it could not reach all the people, an Anglican conference at Lambeth decided to intensify Anglican work in South

America. Protestants formed about 12 per cent of the population, of which Anglicans were a small but growing part. Relations between the

Anglicans and the predominant Catholic Church are distant. “We get on very well with the Catholics. We have nothing to do with them." Bishop Morrison said. "We are not anti-Catholic. we have to keep reminding ourselves. We are pro-Christ. not anti-Catholic." It was only recently that r the Catholic Church had I

stopped treating Protestants as heretics to be exterminated: "There is not such a close relationship as in other parts of the world where Anglicans and Catholics are holding services together. If we start doing things together our people get all confused about what we are on about." Bishop Morrison arrived in New Zealand from Australia on Monday. He will go to Nelson today and then on to the North Island to talk to Anglican Church groups.