In the month since overthrowing Salvador Allende Gossens' Marxist government, the military junta has forcefully extended its tentacles of repression into every part of Chilean society. The left has been brutally sundered, many of its leaders tracked down and imprisoned or executed. All political parties have been suspended, and the country's eight universities, most of them traditional incubators of leftist sentiment, placed under the direct supervision of the military. By last week the junta's control was apparently complete, and all vestiges of organized opposition were smothered—at least temporarily.
Yet the killing continued. José ("Comandante Pepe") Gregorio Liendo Vera, a popular revolutionary who organized peasants in the south of Chile to seize farms, was executed by a military firing squad. Communist Party Leader Luis Corvalán Lepe is on trial on a charge of high treason, which carries the death penalty. All told, 476 people have died—some say as many as 5,000—including one American.
"Plan Zeta." The body of Frank Teruggi Jr., 24, an economics student from Des Plaines, Ill., was found in a Santiago morgue last week. Though the military denied any complicity in his death, Teruggi's roommate, David Hathaway, 24, a sociology student, claims that carabineros broke into their Santiago apartment on Sept. 20. The police, who probably suspected the students of being foreign "extremists," ransacked the apartment and hauled them off to Santiago's National Stadium, where 5,000 political prisoners are still being held. The last time Hathaway saw his friend alive was when Teruggi was being led from their cell at the stadium by guards. A coroner's report said that Teruggi died of a bullet wound.
Chile's strongmen attempted to counter the increasingly strident world criticism by releasing details of a Strangelovian plot that they say justifies their harsh treatment of leftists. The plot, which will be revealed in the U.N. this week by the Chilean Foreign Minister, is called "Plan Zeta." It reportedly called for the execution of 17,000 right-wing and moderate Chileans, including high-ranking military officers, former President Eduardo Frei, anti-Allende union bosses, justices of the supreme court, lawyers and businessmen. A government official who spoke to TIME's Benjamin Cate in Santiago last week said that not all of the arms that were to have been used by the leftists for the executions have been found. That apparently is the reason why the search for weapons and "extremists" continues.
To further dampen protest, the junta agreed to allow some 10,000 foreigners to take refuge in havens operated by churches and voluntary organizations. However, those who have "committed some offense" will not be protected and will be subject to arrest even inside the sanctuaries.