Interviews:

Alessandri,
Arturo

Carter,
Jimmy

Clarridge,
Duane

Davis,
Nathaniel

Hunt,
E. Howard

Negroponte,
John

Pavlov,
Yuri

Wimert,
Paul



     
   


INTERVIEW WITH ARTURO ALESSANDRI

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INT: The international condemnation of the military junta here over various years has ricocheted about for some time, and I wonder how you feel about the reputation that Chile acquired from afar, because of various condemnations, whether there were abuses of human rights or aggression against peoples. We are from a long way away, and so we have no evidence of this, but how did it affect you?

AA: We did not know at the time that these human rights violations were taking place. We had had a lot of violence and torture in the Allende government, and so when the militaries stepped in, for some time we assumed that there were some violent... and probably violations of human rights. But after time went by... I remember, for example, the exile, and I was personally critical about exiling people. But as for the rest, as for all the other condemnation, I did not handl... we did not know. I think, unfortunately, those things happened, but on the other hand, all of these processes when there's such a... the armed forces take over, and there is a civil war going on, which can be sort of subdued, that you don't see... and in fact there was shootings and people infiltrated and people that stayed armed in Chile, and there were big loads of guns sent by the Cubans into the country. The military had a very tough hand on all these people. Now I don't justify this violation, and I think it's a pity that Chile was only judged and looked and criticized because of human rights. That is only one aspect, which can be very negative, but I think there were all other things, and I think the reasons why the armed forces had to step in, that we've talked about... I think there also... the left is also to blame of having taken the country in terms of being at the verge, in many ways, ina civil war.

INT: Thanks very much.

(B/g discussion. Pause.)

INT: In terms of the body count in the Cold War, from one side of the world to another... this is, I would think, one of the most impossible statistics to ever assemble, but given the Chilean tragedy, whether ycount it from before Allende or since, or both, there would be, I would guess, a seriously high number of figures who you could call victims of the Cold War. Has it ever been looked at that way here?

AA: To a certain extent, yes. I think that the victims of the Cold War represent this confrontation, this very violent confrontation and this very violent scenario that was... there was no way to bridge between these irreconcilable groups. And so we were very, very, I mean, shocked by how the country was really torn to pieces, and how people and families didn't talk to each other, and everything was ready for a civil war. And I think that is a very clear manifest or expression of Cold War.

INT: Thank you.

(End)