CONFIDENTIAL
CHILE (continued)
Right No.
(i)
shrewd assessment of the need to head off active disapproval by the USA under President Carter. It is not established that there has been any change of heart by the Junta. Moreover, there remains the grey area of disappearances. We suggest the rating should be 5, not 2.
Rating suggested by Post
(ii) Though torture of a particularly
sickening nature was widespread in the early days of the present régime, there have been few reliable reports in the last year of torture other than the use of electric shocks, and minor physical ill-treatment (kicks, slaps, etc).
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
Slavery is non-existent.
In private conversation, Chileans of all persuasions continue to be remarkably outspoken, and there is no evidence of attempts to inhibit this. Freedom of the information media is guaranteed by the Constitutional Acts of September 1976. However, while there is no pre-censhorship, there are penalties for disseminating information likely to provoke unrest, and one radio station, one newspaper and one magazine were briefly suspended or had an issue confiscated in 1976 because of this. Scope for initiating criticism of the Government is extremely limited, but on the other hand the information media are not prohibited from reproducing criticism of the Government originating outside Chile.
Comment by Latin American Dept
We should be inclined to rate Chile at 5 or 6 rather than 4. In effect, while public criticism of the government certainly exists, all left-wing broadcasting, press and pub- lishing organisations have been closed down, and in particular, propaganda on behalf of Marxism - a category which the present regime interprets liberally rather than narrowly is suppressed.
The judiciary are totally independent, but their freedom of action, and especially their
/ability
5
4
5
CONFIDENTIAL
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