Allende Hangs On

As he entered Santiago's bullet-scarred Moneda Palace last week, President Salvador Allende Gossens appeared confident and fully in control of his troubled country. The coup attempt by disgruntled army officers, whose troops attacked the presidential palace two weeks ago, had fizzled within hours (TIME, July 9). All involved were under arrest. Six members of the ultra-right Patria y Libertad accused of helping plan the revolt were sequestered in the Ecuadorian and Colombian embassies. Life in the capital city seemed back to its normal boisterous pace. Yet behind the appearance of normalcy was a fitfully anxious mood.

Though Allende lifted the nationwide "emergency" measures -including curfews and press censorship -that he had enacted shortly after the coup, rumors of a new takeover attempt filled the streets. Allende's revocation of the restrictions was seen as a sign of increased rather than decreased tension. Only days before, he had demanded that Congress declare a "state of siege" that would have curtailed most civil liberties. When the majority opposition parties in Congress refused, Allende retaliated by lifting the 11 p.m.-to-6 a.m. curfew and the ban on public meetings. His purpose apparently was to allow his supporters to gather in a show of popular support -a tactic he has effectively used in previous crises.

Though Allende's position seemed secure, at least for the moment, the fact is that the problems that caused last month's attempted coup still persist. Food is in short supply. The economy is out of control. Inflation has soared 235% in the past year. In a leftist counterattack on the right-wing plotters, workers have taken over 45 factories in Santiago's industrial belt. Behind locked gates, their leaders have distributed leaflets calling for the preparation of Molotov cocktails and coffee-can grenades and the formation of combat squads.

Tensions were further exacerbated by the resignation of Allende's Cabinet. The ministers stepped down in order to give the embattled President a freer hand in dealing with Chile's problems, but Allende then ran into trouble trying to put together a new Cabinet. He had planned to appoint some military men as a reward for stopping the coup. However, they presented him with a list of demands that if accepted would have produced intolerable military influence in a country where the armed forces have been traditionally neutral. Allende flatly declared that no members of the armed forces would serve in his Cabinet. For a while it seemed that no one else would either. Finally, after four days of indecision, Allende last week formed a new all-civilian Cabinet. But while some of the faces were new, their addition to the government signaled no major shift in policy -a situation that means Allende still has not found a way to dampen the rising passions throughout his land.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.