Word: chiles
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...Suck on that, you reactionaries!" crowed Santiago's pro-government newspaper, Puro Chile. It certainly had something to crow about: Socialist President Salvador Allende Gossens' Popular Unity Coalition had just managed a surprisingly strong showing in the national parliamentary elections against a special coalition of Christian Democrat and National parties...
Billed as the first head-to-head confrontation between Allende's Marxist coalition and Chile's anti-Socialist forces, the election-for all 150 Chamber of Deputies seats and 25 of the 50 Senate seats-turned out to be a sort of stalemate. That benefited Allende. While his coalition picked up only 43.4% of the vote (v. 54.7% for the opposition Democratic Confederation), it gained six seats in the lower chamber and two in the Senate. This still leaves the opposition parties in control but gives them far less than the two-thirds majority needed to stop government...
ALLENDE IS OFTEN criticized for mismanaging the economy. Without doubt, Chile's rate of inflation--the highest in the world last year--must be brought under control. But it must be remembered that the inflation is due at least in part to pressure from the United States and from those in the upper classes who have pulled their money out of the country, and to the initial disruptive effects of the government's agrarian reform. Moreover, since Allende has taken office, the buying power of the lower classes and working classes has actually increased, owing to increased wages. Of course...
...Despite Chile's difficulties, support for Popular Unity is growing. The profits from copper, once extracted for American corporate barons, now benefit the Chilean people, and the country is now the master of its own economic destiny. Social reforms have added to Allende's already broad base of support among the working class and peasant Chileans...
...applaud Allende's victory and recognize it as a triumph for the Chilean and other Third World peoples. We are confident Popular Unity will continue to reshape Chile along participatory socialist lines...