Chilei Prisoner Release Progran Underway
The government has begun to make good on Its promise to release many political prisoners. The pace of the program could be slowed, hovevsr, by reluctance on the part of other nations to receive more Chilean rcf-.goos.
When he announced the Initiative onunta President Pinochet Implied that only prisoners who agreed to leave Chile would be It now appears that at least some prisoners will, in fact, be freed and allowed to remain in the country. On the other hand, the government has begunecree law issued last year to expel "political activists" it has arrested, but not brought to trial. The number of prisoners who will fall into the various categories cannot yet be determined. It seems likely, however, that several thousand Chileans soon will be looking for now homes abroad amid alack of enthusiasm for receiving them.
The negative attitude in Europe appears to be due primarily to economic considerations. Whatever the reasons for reluctance to receive more refugees,problems may compel Santiago to allow more former prisoners to remain in the country. Thiswill slow the release program somewhat.
I The government is likely to castigate publicly harah foreign critics who now fall to give refuge to the "oppressed" Chileans about whom they haveto be so concerned. Chile also has notPinochet's call on tho Soviet Union and Cuba to free some of their political prisoners. Santiago
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has been collecting names of prisoners from friends and relatives and urging international organizations to press Moscow and Havana on the issue. Poreign Minister Cervajal probably will raise the wa"er anew in his upcoming speech to the UN General Assembly
Original document.
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