CHILEAN ARMY PROTEST ENDS PEACEFULLY

A protest by Army officers supporting former military ruler Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte early yesterday ended without political consequences, Chilean Defense Minister Patricio Rojas said. ``There has been no alteration of the constitutional order or of the armed forces' constitutional role,'' he said.

The Chilean Army ordered troops Wednesday to report to their bases in a move to resist pressures on Mr. Pinochet to resign as commander-in-chief of the Army, a post he kept after handing over power to a civilian president in March.

``It was an Army exercise and it is over,'' Mr. Rojas told reporters. ``Activities have returned to normal in all Army units.''

``We have said time and again that we respect his decision to stay on as Army commander-in-chief,'' Rojas told television reporters.

Pressure has mounted on Pinochet to resign since the discovery of a loan racket run by former secret police officers inside the Army.