World Notes Chile

Against a background of growing official repression, at least 15 bombs exploded across Chile last week in a spasm of antigovernment violence that killed four people, including one police officer. In the capital of Santiago, four soldiers were wounded when gunmen opened fire on them from a passing car. A bomb blew a hole in the wall surrounding the residence of U.S. Ambassador Harry Barnes.

Chile's dour 70-year-old dictator, General Augusto Pinochet, reacted harshly. Troops and police charged into an illegal May Day demonstration in Santiago, arresting 500 and injuring a dozen with rubber bullets. Security forces conducted sweeps in slum areas of the city, arresting a total of 11,000 men, who were hauled off to soccer fields and marked for police reference with indelible ink. If the unrest continues, Pinochet is likely to resort to a still tougher response: a state of siege of the kind that finally quelled similar unrest in 1984.