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

and promise, cannot be different in its purposes from the LASO of Cuba, fabricated by Fidel Castro as an instrument of his foreign policy'." According to an AP dispatch dated July 16, 1968, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Venezuela at the time, Ignacio Iribarren Borges, stated that his government had been disagreeably surprised by the establishment of LASO in Chile. In 1968, The New York Times attacked the establishmentof LASO in Chile, and pointed out in an editorial of its July 18, 1968 edition the tollowing: "President Frei is a true Christian andoa true democra!. Notonly has his government quarrelled with the Castro regime, but it is frequently considered as the Latín American answer to Cuba's Marxism-Leninism. Howe– ver, he is undermining it within his own party. It would be best for Chile and tor the hemisphere if that country would continue to be the reformist and democratic answer to leftist revolutionary violence". President Frei personally replied to hemispheric complaints, slating thal "Chile will nol becorne a springboard for subversion", and he morallY condemned LASO by adding Ihat "LASO represents a real danger that disturbs Chile's domestic affairs in the international lield". The Minister 01 Foreign Affairs of Chile at the time, Mr. Gabriel Valdés, addressed a communication to the Secretary-General 01 the United Nations, protesting over LASO's interlerence in hemispheric mallers. Fidel Castro replied to that letter by calling the signalory government "servile lackeys 01 imperialism." THE DIRECT INTERFERENCE OF THE CASTRO GOVERNMENT IN CHI– LEAN INTERNAL AND SOVEREIGN AFFAIRS Up to now I have referred lo Ihe way in which Cuba has organized a system tor hemispheric subversion. And perhaps no other country may have collected a more direct experience than that painfully assimilated by my own. In succession, Chile has been witness, actor, and victim 01 that criminal action; and I say this with deepest sincerity: the worst Ihing that could happen would be tor our experience not to be 01 use either to ourselves or lo strangers. Because of this, endeavoring that such common property be of use, I shall now referto some actions carried out in my countrybetween 1970 and 1973, in which Ihe Governmenl of Cuba direclly participaled. In November 1970, the candidate having received a 36 % of the popular vote in a presidenlial election held Iwo months before took over the Government ot Chile. One of the firsl acts 01 that government was to resume diplomalic relations with Cuba. Chile is a country that by an old tradition has maintained close ties with nations 01 the most different ideoJogies. Because 01 this, there would have been nolhing special with this act of the new government, had it not involved two aspecls Ihat are contrary lo Chilean Iradition. In Ihe firsl place, a binding international undertaking was being ignored. Chile, Mr. Chairman, has always maintained and practiced the principie ot absolute respect tor validly contracted obligations. In the second place, il was a question 01 the tendency and orientation given to Chilean-Cuban tieso It is usual in the international field, or I should say, whal had been mos! usual in the internatíonal field was for Ihe authorities of each state to try lo unite their peoples, with disregard tor al! party considerations, while mutually respecting each other's institutions. In this case, it was soughl to projectthe LASO and Triconlinental objectives lo a much broader scope. In violation of legal provisions,or by cunning use thereof, there was an endeavor to eslablish in my country a new headquarters for guerrillas and continental penetration. In this context, Castro intervened as much as he could in Chilean polilics. There are many facIs I could submit to you justifying my statement beyond any doubt. Yet, I do not wish to tire the Council. I shall only present a few which, in my opinion, irrefutably prove how the Government ofCuba used Ihe connection il had with Ihe one who, paradoxically, was Presidenl of LASO and ofChile al the sametime: how Chilewas used as 93