ustxtxb_obs_1985_05_17_50_00012-00000_000.pdf

OPEN MONDAY-SATURDAY 10-6 AND OPEN SUNDAY 10-a WATSON & COMPANY BOOKS 604 BLANCO STREET 472.4.190 ‘;i_’41J11F` 4., Rubber Stamps Can Leave You Speechless! FOLK STAMPS 200 West Mary Austin, Tx. 78704 O O AUSTIN’S ONLY RUBBER STAMP STORE! Store Hours Mon-Sat 12-6 Phone For Free Catalog wiPw4livrit trarnew stentreAs t cm Itowegewim”,frbrnt .vibwvoviegtcaz Whole Earth Provision Company Nature Discovery Gifts amaze, inform, delight Choose from our business or family gifts of lasting value, for all ages, price ranges and any occasion. Call or stop by and let us make suggestions. 2410 San Antonio St. 4006 South Lamar Blvd. 8868 Research Blvd. -“%11544%,tacjit a lkS!;r:yeAm o rpikmewre ,,:ka.U.Naohlille.461 AVNIPSVAMICAll e alAIKLY a I all of Latin America, was last year touched by private scandal when word of the $17 million dollar residence he is building began to spread. According to Allende, the General is only beginning to compete with some of his subordinates who have built private fortunes at public expense. Another issue that Hortensia Allende would raise with the American public is a foreign policy that leaves the U.S. isolated in the Americas and among Western democracies. “Who is left to support Pinochet? Chile is accused in every international forum. Pinochet is opposed by the European economic community, by the European Parliament, by Prime Minister Gonzalez, by President Francois Mitterand, by the President of Italy Mr. Pertini, by all of the democratic governments. The United States is out of step with all of the Western democracies . . . The Pope refused to visit Chile he ended his trip in Peru. “And we [the opposition] have the support of Alfonsin, and Tancredo Neves, of Venezuela, of Uruguay; the parliaments of Panama and Columbia voted to condemn the dictatorship of Pinochet for violations of human rights. And the government of Mexico, they also support us.” General Augusto Pinochet, as Allende perceives him, is as isolated within his country as the United States is isolated internationally on the question of Chile. Even some of his generals, she believes, would now defect if they didn’t fear that they would be held accountable for their crimes should the government fall. Argentine president Alfonsrn’s prosecution of former military officers is, she claims, a frightening spectre among military officers in Latin America. The Jarpa Plan, a gradual apertura proposed by former Minister of Interior Sergio Onofre Jarpa and embraced by the Reagan administration, failed, according to Allende, because as soon as the dialogue between the government and opposition began, the government was denounced. Pinochet’s return to rule by siege has completely alienated the Roman Catholic Church. Middle-class housewives “are now going into the streets and banging pots” in protest. “Now, most of the middle class is not eating meat,” Allende said. “They have meat maybe once every two weeks. There is real hunger among the middle class. And this, well, it has opened their eyes.” Hortensia Allende gleans much of her news from contacts within the Chilean exile community in Mexico. She receives, through the mail, regular copies of Prensa Libre de Chile, a read-andpass-along clandestine newsletter with a first-hand circulation of 40,000. She believes that the North American people’s love of democracy and civil liberties will gradually alter the foreign policy of their president. She maintains a file of letters from Americans including San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein who have supported her and who had written to Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Enders or George Shultz to protest her being denied a visa. So many letters were received that many “had to be destroyed.” She is encouraged by a visit of American congressmen to Chile last year. Reps. Robert Torricelli, D-NY, Pete Kostmeyer, D-PA, and James Jeffords, R-VT, according to Allende, seemed most concerned about economic conditions and violations of human rights in the country. During the course of the year, Hortensia Bussi de Allende will speak in Cairo, Nairobi, and Florence. She will not, of course, speak in the United States, although very little of what she says on Chile hasn’t already appeared under Lydia Chavez’s byline in the New York Times. Only two conditions were required of my interview: public acknowledgment of the support that Allende has received from so many Americans and absolute punctuality in arriving for my appointment. I managed to meet one. “Wear a tie and be on time,” a mutual friend in Mexico warned me. “Dona Hortensia can be very difficult. But remember, it’s not easy being the wife of Allende, in Mexico.” And though she is grateful for the asylum first offered in 1973 by Mexican President Luis Echeverrfa, Hortensia Allende, like many of Chile’s halfmillion exiles, someday intends to return home. [11 12 MAY 17, 1985 :441, +POI grF