Pinochet sees need to be ‘inflexible’

Press, 8 November 1984, Page 11

Pinochet sees need to be ‘inflexible’

NZPA-Reuter Santiago General Augusto Pinochet, responding to a wave of anti-Government violence, imposed a state of siege throughout Chile yesterday and a curfew was decreed from midnight to 5 a.m. in the capital. Saying that there was a profound process of political insurrection against his 11-year-old military Government, General Pinochet announced the state of siege and with a minor Cabinet reshuffle in a ceremony broadcast live to the nation. Minutes later the military commander of Santiago issued a decree setting a curfew in the capital to be enforced by the Armed Forces and para military police. General Pinochet made the announcement while swearing in two new Ministers after the resignation of his entire Cabinet on Tuesday after his moderate Interior Minister, Mr Sergio Jarpa quit. There were few changes in the new Cabinet. Mr Jarpa was reappointed to the most important Cabinet post despite his complaint that he was no longer able to pursue a policy of political reform begun with his appointment a year ago. Also retained were the Finance Minister, Mr Luis Escobar, and the Economy Minister, Mr Modesto Collados.

The Labour Minister, Mr Hugo Galvez, was replaced with the Government’s secretary-general, Mr Alfonso Marquez de la Plata, whose post was filled by Francisco Cuadra. General Pinochet repeated his intention to fulfil the Constitution, approved by a plebiscite in 1980 but never accepted as legitimate by the Opposition. The document sets 1989 as the date for a return to a form of democratic rule. “A careful observation of the so-called political ‘apertura’ (opening) shows certainly that the vices which affected our political life are still present,” he said. “It is precisely to safeguard democracy and liberty that now more than

ever it is necessary to be inflexible in respect to the institutional order which governs us ... I have decreed, with effect from this day, a state of siege throughout the country,” he said. The state of siege gives the President sweeping powers of arrest, permits tight restrictions on freedom of speech, assembly and information, allows censorship of mail, and severely limits the power of the courts. It also gives him authority to bar people from the country, exile them or confine them in any part of Chile, although this largely duplicates his powers under the controversial Article 24 of the transitional section of the Constitution. The right of habeas corpus is suspended and the courts are not allowed to examine or question the reasoning behind any Government decree issued under state of siege powers. Chile had not seen a state of siege since March, 1978, although a state of emergency that gave the president far fewer powers is still in force. Protests have killed more than 90 people since they began in. earnest 18 months ago, and a disruptive antiGovernment strike last week was followed by a rash of bomb and shooting attacks on the police in recent days.