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CATHOLICS AND ALLENDE
PAGE 1—The Southern Cross, September 20,1973
Three-Year Calendar of Events in Chile
SANTIAGO, Chile (NC) - Catholics
in Chile were sharply divided over the
rule of Marxist President Salvador
Allende, overthrown Sept. 11 by a
military rebellion after months of
violent protest against his policies.
Allende reportedly committed suicide
during the coup.
The record shows that he and his
Marxist-Socialist coalition, Unidad
Popular, were given a fair chance by
Church authorities and many of the
priests and laity to carry out social
reforms. Frictions over basic human
rights turned the tide against him.
Here is a calendar of events:
1970
NOVEMBER: Dr. Salvador Allende
became the first freely elected Marxist
president in a Western democracy.
Allende promised to respect all faiths
and sealed the statement with visits to
religious leaders, including Cardinal
Raul Silva of Santiago, and with an
ecumenical Te Deum at his
inauguration.
DECEMBER: Leftists, including
some Christians, increased aggressive
action on campus, land reform, even the
ministry. Cardinal Silva said the
emerging violence violated Chilean
traditions.
1971-Jan. to May
1971-FEBRUARY-MARCH: Bishops
opposed push to legalize divorce and
attempts at birth control by state
agencies seeking powers to deal with
marriage, divorce, housing, sex
education, juveniles and leisure under a
National Council of Family Guidance.
APRIL: Clashes between leftists and
centrists brought about a campus crisis
at Catholic University. The vice-rector
charged that rector Femado Castillo was
linked too closely to Allende. The crisis
prompted Cardinal Silva to warn on the
pitfalls of mixing religion and politics.
Bishops in the south criticized a wave
of illegal seizures of farms by landless
farm workers, and called for a halt to
the seizures while asking for
acceleration of the government
land-reform programs.
A group of 80 priests working in the
poorest sections of Santiago voiced their
support for the Allende reforms,
including nationalization of mines and
industries, and backed “social control of
the means of production.” The priests,
later to be known as Christians for
Socialism, blasted “capitalism, a
product of foreign domination and
domestic complicity.”
By the end of the month the Chilean
bishops warned that in the past, Marxist
socialism “has violated basic rights of
the human person . . .violations that
have been similar to those of the
systems inspired by capitalism.” They
reserved the right “to constructive
criticism” of efforts by socialists.
Chileans, the bishops added, “cannot be
sacrified to foreign idealogies that run
contrary to their heritage.”
MAY: Cardinal Silva shared a Labor
Day platform with Allende “because he
knows this government respects all
religious belief,” as the president
remarked. At the huge rally were
communist, socialist and Christian labor
unions.
The cardinal later told a Catholic
University gathering that Marxist ideas
can infiltrate the campus only “if
Christians cannot inspire a new
humanism” for the solution of modem
man’s problems. He described
communist doctrine as “a narrow
dogmatism.”
1971-June to Aug.
JUNE: Mary knoll missionaries in
Chile said that as long as the Church is
on the side of the masses, the Allende
government could not clash with the
Church. One observed however that
“there could be trouble if the
government and the Church were to
have a conflict of vision as to what is
best for Chile.” The priests urged that
the United States keep “an open mind”
in its dealings with Chile.
Church leaders strongly objected to a
government-sponsored television
program which presented Pope Pius XII
as pro-nazi.
Hardening polarization led to the
political assassination of Edmundo
Perez Zujovic, a Christian Democrat,
and of Gen. Rene Schneider,
commander of the army. Leftists were
blamed for the first killing, extreme
rightists for the second. Of the
assassinations Cardinal Silva said: “We
can see before us the rising threat of
fratricidal struggle . . .as the dark forces
of hate seek to plunge our society into
irreparable conflict.”
JULY: Some 80 U.S. Protestant and
ARMY TAKES POWER IN CHILE - Soldiers point
their weapons in the direction of the presidential
palace in Santiago, Chile, where a military junta ousted
President Salvador Allende last week. Estimates of
deaths in the fighting ranged from 500 to about 1,000
persons. (NC Photo)
Catholic missionaries in Chile wrote to
President Richard M. Nixon and the
American public to judge Chile “more
in terms of human needs and aspirations
than in terms of ideologies.” The
Chilean government had taken over U.S.
owned firms in banking, mining and
industry.
The bishops told Chileans that the
real choice was between Christianity
and materialism, not between capitalism
and socialism. Both systems, they
warned, are too materialistic. They
spoke of party agents “intensley
engaged in spreading their Marxist
tenets through communications, schools
and political action programs,” and
expressed concern “over the possibility
that atheistic Marxism be imposed on
Chile.”
AUGUST: Bishop Oscar Gonzalez of
Talca said Christians “should not be
afraid of the word ‘socialism’ ” under
which “the majority of the people could
truly share in the building of the
nation.”
The bishops defended the Church’s
right to run schools against a
government plan to nationalize all
private institutions by 1977.
Allende had said that private schools
are undemocratic and promote class
division. The bishops countered saying
“at present 76 percent of students in
our schools pay no tuition, and we aim
at making this 100 percent.” There are
in Chile some 1,000 Catholic schools
with 360,000 students, mostly on the
secondary level. Soon the Education
Ministry said that the schools had a
constitutional right to continue “in the
normal way.”
1971—Sept, to Dec.
At Concepcion, terrorists tried to
bum the convent of the Servants of
Jesus, who care for the sick, after
smearing its wall with communist
slogans.
Cardinal Silva asked the United States
to help Chileans achieve economic
independence and development through
nationalization.
Two churchmen greeted Cuban leader
Fidel Castro during his visit to Allende.
Archbishop Sotero Sanz, Vatican envoy
in Chile, and Cardinal Silva, were
signifying the position of the Church:
understanding and cooperation for
social reforms benefiting the poor, while
maintaining an independent critical
attitude.
DECEMBER: The bishops warned
that Marxists were endangering these
human rights: ,
“The right of the people to
participate in economic and political
decisions.
“The right to share in the goods and
services of the nation.
“The right to equal opportunity, and
the freedom to choose opitons.
“The right to education without
economic hardships or ideological
dictation.
“The right to freedom of
information, and of association.
“The right to curb violence,
particularly when coming from illegal
armed groups.”
The bishops warned that “there
cannot be peace if we Chileans engage in
preaching and publicizing hate, and if
we lack respect for man and truth.”
1972--Jan. to March
The first 14 months after his
inaugural in Nov. 1970 were a see-saw
of incidents over gradual socialization of
the country-its mines, industries,
business, even schools-between
government activists and Catholics,
although the latter were also divided by
the issue.
Returns from by-elections showed
opposition to the government growing.
Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei,
whom Allende succeeded in 1970, said
of the violence by communist bands:
“The kind of insults government
supporters unleash at us smack of a
totalitarian mind, which cannot take
democratic opposition .. .”
Jesuit Father Renato Poblete of
Santiago, said that thus far Allende’s
programs “have been taking place
without suppression of freedom, with
no control of the press, with normal
congressional activity.” But agreed that
Catholic leaders there feared economic
and' political chaos, because of
radicalism in shifting from the capitalist
system.
FEBRUARY: Father Raul Hasbun,
director of the Catholic University
television network fired news chief
Leonardo Caceres on charges of biased
coverage, and faced a strike by the
leftist broadcasters union and student
demonstrations. The network reaches
70 percent of the total audience.
MARCH: Against the socialization
background of his country, Cardinal
Raul Silva of Santiago told arriving
delegates to the United Nations meeting
on trade and development (UNCTAD)
here, that “often Christians ignore the
drama of our human underdevelopment
and overcrowding - unhealthy,
promiscuous, dulling of people’s moral
sense .. .” Allende endorsed the
cardinal’s plea to rich nations, and
quoted from Pope Paul’s encyclical The
Development of Peoples on
international social justice.
A meeting of Christians for Socialism,
timed to coincide with UNCTAD, failed
to obtain the support from Cardinal
Silva who said “the group is out of line
with the Church.” Some of the
Christian left had given support to
Marxist reforms and indiscriminate
revolution.
Cuba and Chile joined hands again
through a visit by 12 Catholic
clergymen to Cuba and their voiced
enthusiasm about “Christians taking up
the challenge of current needs in Latin
America in a joint struggle with the
Marxists.”
1972-Apr. to May
APRIL: The Chilean bishops
reminded UNCTAD that more than
trade and aid, the poor nations needed
practical recognition of their right to
develop and improve the fate of their
peopel. At the same time the prelates
asked poor countries to “correct
injustices in their own community.”
Marxists and Christians alike were
angered by charges that the
International Telephone and Telegraph
Corporation (ITT) had tried to block
Allende’s election. Christian Democrats
spearheaded a congressional
investigation of both ITT and the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency activities in
Chile.
At their yearly meeting, the Chilean
bishops issued a statement noting
progress toward justice and equality
under Marxist rule, but they warned
that violence and propaganda “are
poisoning the nation.” They cited
socialist control of business and
resources, theats to civil liberties and
the high cost of basic supplies as causes
of growing polarization.
Close to one hundred U.S.
missionaries in Chile, Catholic and
Protestant, protested ITT-CIA activities
and backed “Chile’s efforts to build a
just society.”
MAY: Liberation of the poor by
revolution is a challenge to Christians,
and socialism is the answer 400 clergy
and laymen from 17 Latin American
nations said at a Christians for Socialism
meeting. They looked for ways to work
with Marxists, and to purify the
Christian faith “from the
contaminations of capitalism.”
1972-July to Dec.
JULY: Alarmed by polarization,
several Christian groups met informally
to deal with the danger of further
contention among Catholics, the issue
of priests in politics, and the apparent
accpetancy of many Christians of tenets
and Marxism.
AUGUST: Christians for Socialism
became lukewarm in their support of
Allende after government agents fought
a battle with residents of the shanty
town near Santiago. The Christians
asked: “Are the leaders retreating in the
face of pressure from the rich?” By then
the extremist Left Revolutionary
Movememt (MIR) stepped up its violent
opposition to Allende.
SEPTEMBER: Cardinal Silva warned
fellow Chileans to curb political
passions or face “the apocalyptic
specter of fratricidal war.” Allende,
faced with difficulties with the
opposition and the extreme left, joined
other dignataries at the Te Deum for the
162 years of independence of Chile.
The theme was: Curb polarization.
OCTOBER: Students in the Christian
left charged Allende with becoming “a
tool of the burgeois state” by allowing a
63 percent rise in the cost of living.
Again the Chilean bishops issued a
call to domestic peace. By then a
unified People’s Defense Command was
demanding respect for civil rights, a free
press, citizen participation in reform,
job security and an end to violence. The
bishops asked Allende to accept these
points “as a way to solve the crisis.”
NOVEMBER: U.S. missionaries in
Chile called on fellow
Americans-especially the religious
leaders-to promote a new U.S. foreign
policy purged of big business interests.
DECEMBER: The rector of the
Marian Shrine at Maipu, site of Chile’s
independence, protested attempts by
right-wing groups to use a pilgrimage for
political purposes.
As 1973 approached, much of the
fears expressed by Church leaders of
chaos and polarization were a reality.
1973-Jan. to May
JANUARY: Two months ahead of
congressional elections, the Chilean
bishops called for fair campaign
practices. Rationing of basic foodstuffs
worsened the political controversy, but
Church leaders said that if well
administered, every home would be
provided of its fair share.
FEBRUARY: In the midst of a bitter
campaign which had divided Catholics
into pro and anti-Allende groups,
pressure from civic groups lifted a
government ban against the Catholic
television station at Concepcion, thus
giving viewers a chance to hear both
sides of the issues. Few days later,
however, state television technicians
placed interference devices and heads of
the Concepcion station were arrested on
murder charges. The charges were
dropped in May.
MARCH: The pposition retained
congressional control although Allende’s
coalition gained seats. To a “socialist”
unification proposal by the ministry of
education, embracing also Catholic
Schools, the bishops countered with a
defense of parents and children’s right
to freedom of choice. Cardinal Silva said
after an interview with Allende that the
president did not plan “to impose such
reform.” A few days later the ministry
halted the plans.
MAY: The bishops warned that “class
struggle fraught with hatred and
violence” can lead to ‘another unjust,
tyrannical society.” “Nothing will be
solved by the substitution of one power
group by another,” they said of the
bitter fight between rightists and
leftists. They also lamented labor
conflicts, press headlines overstressing
violence and black market operations.
Cardinal Silva told Chileans to stop
violence or face further destruction. The
country had been placed under state of
siege after student riots and shooting
between extemists. Unlike 1972, the
cardinal refused to attend the May Day
labor demonstrations because “I cannot
condone the fact that worker is being
pitted against worker.”
Bishop Alejandro Duran Moreira of
Rancagua organized relief services for
the families of 11,000 miners on strike
at nationalized copper mines.
1973-June to Aug.
JUNE: Saying the long lines at stores
caused by shortages made Chile “look
like a country plagued by war,” the
bishops in the central provinces
repeated their backing of improvements
for the worker but reminded the
government that “there are changes that
take the wrong direction, when they are
inspired by materialism and ignore the
complex nature of man. “The rest of
the bishops soon joined them in a call to
domestic peace.
At the end of the month a Santiago
regiment attempted to overthrow
Allende but failed. Christians for
Socialism condemned the attempt.
Other churchmen renewed efforts “for
peace and concord, to put an end to
hatred.”
Some priests complained that the
bishops were siding with the rich in
denouncing shortages.
JULY: Father Raul Hasbun, head of
the Catholic television network Channel
13, charged that Allende and his aides
were using insult and violence again to
silence independent TV stations.
At the height of renewed tension,
Cardinal Silva succeeded in opening
talks among rival parties to avoid civil
war. “We speak in a dramatic hour for
Chile .. .to make an extreme call and
avoid armed conflict,” he said.
Opposition parties had charged that
weapons were distributed to Marxist
groups.
A bishops’ education study rejected
government proposals for school reform
under a unified system, although they
recognized some “positive aspects.” The
Baptist Church joined in the criticism.
AUGUST: Shortly before the coup,
Cardinal Silva had condemned terrorism
and violence linked with the crippling
transport strike. He called terrorism
“the lowest and most gruesome form of
violence.”
“Our duty is to make it morally
impossible for terrorism to gain more
converts and produce more victims.
Terrorism is a crime against Chile. To
commit, approve or to tolerate it is to
destory all the values of our
fatherland,” Cardinal Silva added.
By then organized extremists or right
and left were fostering a prelude to civil
war.
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