Pains of Democracy

President Juan Antonio Rios last week opened a troubled session of the Chilean Congress. Orderly lines of soldiers, orderly crowds saluted him on his way through Santiago's streets to the Congreso Nacional. But the situation confronting him in Congress was far from orderly. Chile, democratic island in predominantly undemocratic South America, was struggling with the problems of democracy.

Hope into Turmoil. When Rios started his term, he was the brightest hope of South American democracy. But he did not push the urgent reforms demanded by the Leftist coalition which put him in power, showed more liking for conservatives than for Communists who had given him powerful support. He lost the confidence of Chile's Popular Front, failed to gain the complete confidence of his new friends on the Right. Result: turmoil. Rios, without a political majority, found it difficult to govern at all. Chile's numerous ills, notably including a rampant inflation, grew worse & worse.

Recent dissensions further weakened his Cabinet. Now, on opening a new session of Congress, President Rios was trying to form some combination to give him firm support, allow him to govern effectively. The job did not look easy.

Hope & Faith. The picture was not all black. Chile was sorely tried, but she showed no taste for the easy way out through dictatorship. She did not want to follow the Argentine example, surrender weakly to authoritarianism. Chile's tough, free people still looked to democracy for a solution of their particular democracy's troubles.

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