The picture Chile offers to the visitor is quite different from the image conveyed by the American and European mass media. I recently made a trip there, for the seventh time over a period of 25 years. The day before I arrived, there was a big demonstration organized by the Christian Democrats. The opposition press claimed 900,000 participants, the government spoke of 100,000. Photos taken from helicopters rather supported the government’s guess. By the way, the pro-government press informed its readers of the demonstration in advance, giving time, place, public transportation and parking facilities. Chile is far from being a totalitarian state.
Public violence is a fact of life in Chile today, and the Chilean Left stages it very well. The representatives of the foreign mass media are tipped off (and so are the police) that in this or that sector of a demonstration, windows will be smashed, cars set on fire, or shops looted. The police arrive, act with the brutality we are accustomed to seeing on our television screens, and the cameramen have a field day. Besides this political street theater, there is also real terrorism from the Marxist Left. Bombs explode, arson is practiced. Just before our arrival a bomb was thrown into an orphanage, but a courageous lad picked it up and threw it into the courtyard, where its explosion caused only minor damage. However, the level of violence in Chile is probably no worse than in Western Europe. Between January 1 and November 20, 1985, West Germany experienced 296 acts of terrorism. (French, Italian, and Belgian statistics are even more alarming.)
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