CHILE: Red Rout

So far as fiery President Gabriel González Videla was concerned, the Communists had asked for it. They had struck Chile’s coal mines; he had expelled a Yugoslav diplomat on charges of pulling the strings (TIME, Oct. 20). And last week, when his troops were restoring order in the Lota coal fields, 2,000 Communist-dominated last-ditchers barricaded themselves in a mine tunnel and set off dynamite charges in front of advancing Chilean soldiers.

Nobody was hurt, and tear gas soon routed the miners. But it was the perfect cue for González to strike still harder at his late allies and their international tutors. That afternoon he summoned his Cabinet. Then, charging that the Soviet Union had “inspired grave attempts against the political independence of the republic,” he sent a curt note to Russia’s Ambassador Dimitri Zhukov, breaking off diplomatic relations. For good measure, he broke with Czechoslovakia too.

Sweepup. That night, police and soldiers began a nationwide roundup of Communists. Party big shots heard a radio news flash and, just in time, skedaddled. Parliamentary immunity spared the party’s five Senators and 15 Deputies. But at El Siglo, the Communist newspaper in Santiago, even the linotypers were arrested. At Lota, 300 miners’ leaders were held for court-martial. When Communist unions pulled reprisal strikes in the great nitrate fields and copper mines, the Army grabbed another 300.

Possibly the new Commie strikes might lead to outlawing of the party and the ousting of Communists from Congress. That had been González plan of several weeks ago. But not all Chileans wanted to be as tough as their volatile President. The Socialists, in Chile no friends of Communists, opposed outlawing the party, as a blow to civil liberties. Pink-cheeked old Senate President Arturo Alessandri, a Liberal, twice Chile’s President and still a great power in politics, let it be known that he was against the idea.

Cleanup. Besides, it might not be necessary. According to Santiago gossip, González’ anti-Communist action had already won the promise of a badly needed $40 million World Bank loan. Visiting U.S. industrialists, who have told González that they would be interested in investing in Chile if ever he got the best of his Commies, could watch the rapid climb of Chile’s stockmarket last week and draw their own conclusions. Lota coal shares were up ten points in five days.

All but lost in the political power play were some 18,000 undersea coal miners of Lota, whose strike for higher pay set off the explosion (TIME, Oct. 13). They went back to work last week at a 40% increase in pay: 20¢ an hour at the official rate.