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CHILE

While there was no increase in the number of violent events against Jews in 1997, extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi propaganda intensified. Much of the propaganda centered on allegations of an "Israeli plot" to conquer southern Chile.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The Jewish community of Chile, numbering approximately 21,000, is mostly concentrated in the city of Santiago, with a scattering in the provinces of Valparaíso, Viña del Rancagua, Concepción, Temuco and Valdivia. The Representative Committee of Jewish Organizations in Chile (CREJ) encompasses all the Jewish communities and organizations in the country. The communities publish a number of Jewish periodicals. In general, the Jewish community enjoys a good reputation and members have held positions at the highest level in the government of President Eduardo Frei. There is no institutionalized anti-Semitism, but occasionally anti-Jewish feeling erupts, fomented by small neo-Nazi groups.

EXTREMIST MOVEMENTS AND HATE GROUPS

Chile's extremist right-wing groups continued their various activities in 1997. The neo-Nazi Movimiento Nacionalista de Chile, for example, headed by Marcelo Saavedra, was particularly active in the city of Concepción, in southern Chile, leading several expeditions to the island of Chiloé (see below). Erwin Robertson and the group centered round his journal La Ciudad de los Césares strengthened their links with various Muslim groups. They participated in conferences and seminars and pursued a pro-Muslim/anti-Semitic line in the journal (see below). A new group, Secta Moon, which declared that it was anti-communist and anti-Jewish, appeared in October (see also Venezuela).

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

While the number of violent events against Jews in 1997 remained low, extreme right-wing and neo-Nazi propaganda was intensified. An indication of anti-Jewish feeling in Chile was revealed from a survey conducted by the University of Santiago in the city area in 1997: 20.8 percent of those interviewed said that they would not give responsible work to Jews because they were untrustworthy.

There was one troubling incident throughout the month of June: a car drove past the building of the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement in Santiago de Chile every Sabbath, its occupants shouting anti-Semitic slogans.

Propaganda and Holocaust Denial

Wearing military garb and armed with banners and leaflets proclaiming "Chile for the Chileans," young members and supporters of Movimiento Nacionalista de Chile denounced "the presence of 500 Israeli soldiers" in the south of Chile, alleging an Israeli plan to divide Chile into two. On February 27, the group broadcast information about supposed Israeli intentions to conquer southern Chile. The commentator spoke of "the growing Israeli population" in that area and "the presence of Israeli soldiers in civilian dress."

In January and April a leaflet on this issue appeared. "Los verdaderos invasores no son chilenos ni extranjeros" (The real invasion comes neither from Chileans nor foreigners), published in Argentina, was distributed in Southern Chile. "Plan Andinia" (The Andinian Plan), distributed in the city of Valparaíso and signed by a group named Acción por Chile (Action for Chile), is a well-known Argentinean leaflet which was written in the 1970s and has circulated since then among military officers there (see Argentina). According to the leaflet, although Israel has achieved its spiritual home, it is now planning to unite all the Jews in southern Chile and southern Argentina. In the Chilean version, it is claimed that three million Jews are already living in southern Chile and urges Chileans to move against them. The authorities have refused to refute this allegation.

Another leaflet also hinted at a Jewish conspiracy: "a white race" which bemoaned "false Holocausts" and which used its control of economic and political power, the media, the education system and technology to destroy the nation's values. This leaflet printed in Argentina and distributed in Chile, was signed by two groups: MAN (Movimiento Argentino Nacionalista) and HAChA (Hermandad Argentino-Chilena Anti-Sionista).

The journal Qué Pasa (What's Happening) distributed an anti-Semitic publication, "Diccionario Antijudío" (Anti-Jewish Dictionary). CREJ repudiated the publication and explained the community's actions to bring the authors to trial.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

The newspaper Diario Austral, which appears in Osorno, southern Chile, published a report on May 24 about Nazis in southern Chile, entitled "El Místico retorno del Fuhrer" (The Mystical Return of the Fuhrer). The director of the German Institute of Osorno, Ulich Ramer, claimed Nazi ideology was widespread in the south. He noted that in 1996 he had to expel a student from his institute for spreading Nazi propaganda. On the previous day, this newspaper had published information about the Corriente Esotérica (Esoteric Trend) of Miguel Serrano, who has many followers in the city of Osorno. The trend stresses the "mystical" figure of Hitler. Articles by Serrano about the German SS appeared on the website Al Sur del Mundo (At the south of the world), which began operating in September. The website also publishes various anti-Semitic materials.

The killing of Chilean Nazis by the police on September 5, 1938 was marked in the General Cemetery of Chile by right-wing extremists. At the four ceremonies held to commemorate this date there were more anti-Semitic speeches than in the past. The well-known Chilean Nazi Dr. Hugo Lara was one of the speakers and a young neo-Nazi, Marcelo Bollman, made an anti-Semitic speech on "not allowing the hand of the rabbi to be raised with a glass full of blood." Nationalistic and anti-Semitic publications such as Ciudad de los Césares, Liberación and Revista del Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario were distributed at these meetings. The whole winter issue of La Ciudad de los Césares was dedicated to denial of the Holocaust, which it claimed was the invention of the Jews.