Chilean union leader arrested
Roberto Seguel, head of Chile's copper workers union and organizer of Tuesday's massive, nationwide day of protest against Chile's military leadership , was arrested and taken from his home by plainclothes police Wednesday. He was reportedly in the custody of the Interior Ministry.
Street violence during the protest was the worst since the military seized power nearly 10 years ago, writes Monitor Latin America correspondent James Nelson Goodsell. Two students were killed in clashes with the police - and an estimated 350 Chileans were arrested, 175 in Santiago itself.
Meanwhile the military strong man, Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, branded the protests ''a communist ploy,'' adding that they ''are not original or Chilean.'' Antigovernment sentiment in Chile is growing. There can be no masking the support that opponents of the Pinochet regime are winning from all sectors of Chilean opinion. In part, this is due to economic traumas that put Chile into deep recession. But it is also the result of a mounting unhappiness with continued military rule.