Chile: the balanced view : a recopilation of articles about the Allende years and after

Serious consideration of the five point program I suggest would eliminate the need to use moral standards to judge the internal activities of the Chilean government and provide a more impartíal and mature approach. Rather than condemning the Chilean government for . what it has done or has not done, and threatening to utilize military and economic assis– tance as "weapons" to induce certain policy responses as we have done in the past, Chile would naturally fall within the confines ofthe new policy. Clearly, the adoptíons of a new set of standards will not eliminate the sincerely felt and justifiable concern for the policies followed by the Chilean government, allegedly, in threatening polítical prisoners. It will eliminate the possibility of employing United States policy in that struggle to gain recogni– tion of the need to protect human ríghts in all nations at all times and transfer it to international public and private organizations and return it to the hands of prívate groups in the United States who are able to work through like-minded and concerned groups. The continual effortto employ United States policy in Latin America asa weapon in the struggle to achieve respect for human rights is counterproductive. It creates bilateral tension that prevent the negotiation and settlement of other outstanding issues. It reduces the possibility of quiet, effective pressure being brought to bear by the United States government throught its diplomatic representatives in Latin America, on governments thought to violate human rights. The recommendation that policy be removed from the struggle for human rights is not to reduce the importance of those rights; it is to recognize the realities of power and of sovereignty in the late 20th century in Latin America. 285