A SURVEY OF THE HEADLINES IN THE CHILEAN PRESS DURING THE first year of the Unidad Popular (UP) government might give the unwary observer the impression that the period has been characterized by a succession of subversive plots. Conspiracy theories have abounded and dramatic public announcements (like modern ceremonies of exorcism), have marked the official recognition of each theory while presaging its prompt disappearance from the front pages of the newspapers and from the view of an increasingly sceptical populace.
Events over the past year more than justify the alarm of the UP. The ‘peaceful road to socialism’ has been obstructed by the activities of groups of the extreme left and the extreme right which have each committed one major political assasination.