CHILE,ARGENTINA: Allende on the Road

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CHILE

When a politician is in trouble at home, he often tries his luck abroad. Thus, two weeks ago Chile's beleaguered President Salvador Allende Gossens embarked on a five-nation tour that took him to Mexico, the U.S., Algeria, the Soviet Union and Cuba. Allende's first trip outside Chile since he was elected President in 1970 had another purpose besides bolstering his prestige at home, which has been eroded by political and economic strife: he was seeking the credits needed to shore up a sagging economy.

The rhetorical tone of the trip was set during Allende's stop in Mexico, where he was greeted by wildly enthusiastic crowds. "Yesterday in Mexico, today in Chile," the Marxist President told a special session of the Mexican Congress. "The bastard interests of the capitalists have tried to prevent us from being masters of our own destiny." Allende left little doubt that he was referring to the U.S., which he believes is trying to sabotage his government.

Mild. He repeated the message during a one-day visit to the U.N., where he charged that ITT and Kennecott Copper Corp., two U.S.-controlled companies whose assets in Chile were expropriated by his government, "had driven their tentacles deep into my country, and even proposed to manage our political life." Allende claimed to have a document proving that ITT had specific plans for "strangling the economy, diplomatic sabotage, sowing panic among the population and fomenting social disorder. That is what we call imperialist intervention."

Considering the vitriolic nature of the charges, the U.S. response was unusually mild. George Bush, the American Ambassador to the U.N., merely remarked at a press conference that "there is nothing in our system designed to exploit anyone." He also paid a call on Allende later at his suite in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

But Allende was more concerned with his reception in Moscow—and with good reason. Only the Russians seemed willing, or able, to extend the financial aid needed to bail out the Chilean economy. As it turned out, Allende got somewhat less than he hoped for. At Moscow's Vnukovo Airport last week he was met by Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny and Premier Aleksei Kosygin, who assured him that "you are not alone in your struggle." In subsequent talks, the Soviet leaders agreed to increase economic aid (currently running at about $20 million a year), but they were not prepared to give Chile anywhere near the $1.5 million a day in aid that is currently being funneled into Cuba. The reason is simple. Allende, who has strong opposition at home, is considered a far less secure Latin American socialist than is Fidel Castro.