Latin America: Clamor over Chilean Copper

U.S. business has been having more than its share of difficulties with Latin America lately. Peru expropriated the U.S.-owned International Petroleum Co., Mexico forced subsidiaries of U.S. mining companies to admit local partners, and 21 Latin American governments complained to President Nixon that U.S. business repatriates more in profits from their continent than it invests. Now Chileans are demanding majority ownership and a larger share of the profits from their huge copper industry, which is dominated by two U.S. companies—Anaconda and Kennecott. Chilean mines produced 741,000 tons of copper last year, about a sixth of the non-Communist world's total. Last...