TOUCHES OFF DEMONSTRATIONS IN CHILE
By José Valdés
Santiago, Chile
The workers, peasants, students, and trade~union and political organizations of the left in Chile have militantly indicated their sorrow over the death of Che Guevara and their determination to carry on under the red banner raised by the greatest Latin-American, revolutionary Marxist, guerrilla fighter of our time.
On October 17 a mass meeting and march was organized in Santiago.
The daily newspaper Las Noticias de Ultima Hora reported: "With incidents that resulted in the arrest of six university students and a worker, in addition to one injured, a meeting was held last night in tribute to Che Guevara. The speakers were the writer, Edesio Alvarado; the Communist, S. Mufioz; the Socialist, S. Aranciabia; Hugo Cancino of the Movimiento ‘Camilo Torres' and Vallespir of the MIR [Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria]. A huge banner dominated the meeting: 'Yankee, you will never kill Che.' The carabineros tried to dissolve the demonstration by the use of force. The workers and students stood up to them. A carabinero lost his regulation revolver. The weapon has not been found."
The progovernment daily, La Tarde, declared that in "the theft of a revolver belonging to a carabinero, members of the Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) appear to be implicated; they tried to assault a carabinero during last night's disorders."
The Nineteenth Convention of the Secondary Students of Chile, which ended October 17, passed a motion "To recognize Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara as the main leader of the struggle for the liberation of our people. To recognize Socialist Cuba as the first free and sovereign nation of our continent and as a
source of inspiration for the continental revolution."
This was reported in the October 17 issue of Las Noticias de Ultima Hora. In the same edition, a six-column headline declared: "2 Students Shot by Carabineros as They Wrote, 'Che Did Not Die.'" The incident occurred in Valparaiso. According to the report, H. Araya and A.Contrera were shot in the head from a distance of 15 centimeters [six inches]. Under the photo of the writing on the wall, "Che Did Not Die," appeared the letters, "MIR."
On October 18, students at the University of Concepcién, led by the MIR, lowered the Chilean flag to half mast and raised the flag of Cuba. An official, who tried to block the action in honor of Che Guevara, was stoned by the students.
The bourgeois municipal authorities of Concepcién tried to set up a chauvinistic clamor by accusing the MIR of having insulted the national flag and resorted to repressive measures that culminated with the expulsion from the university of Jorge Grez and Eduardo Barrfa.
The students repudiated this act and contended that the accusation was false since the Chilean colors were not struck but simply lowered to half mast as is always the custom when someone is mourned. (On October 19 the students at the Pedagogical Institute in Santiago likewise raised the Cuban flag.)
On October 18 the Senate held a session in tribute to Che Guevara. In addition to speeches by Salvador Allende and others, Senator Jaime Barros of the “pro-Peking" group spoke. He said, among other things: "Ernesto Che Guevara is dead. Long live Che Guevara! Dr. Ernesto Guevara did not come from the proletariat, as my colleague Allende has affirmed. Neither did Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Fidel Castro nor Mao Tse-tung come from the proletariat. However, all of then fused themselves with the masses, learned from them and succeeded in forming a sweeping movement that toppled the bourgeois power from its foundations...Down with the Belainde Terrys to avenge the guerrilla fighter Hugo Blanco...Down with American imperialism. The blacks are digging its grave, from S.Carmichael, the hero Malcolm X, to Cassius Clay-Muhammad Ali, who deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.Down with the Khrushchevs and renegades like Podgorny, who visited the Pope, and the Yevtushenkos, who attended Fatima and were received by Bob Kennedy in the land of the oppressive dollar..." (From the report in El Mercurio of October 21.)
Although the words are only a pallid reflection of what the exploited in our saddened Americas feel, I should like to end this brief note with the following: "Listen, Yankee. Che will be avenged!"