Chile Seals Off Two Slums, Seeking Terrorists, Arms

The government ignored objections from the Roman Catholic Church and sent police and air force troops today into two more politically active slums, searching for terrorists, weapons and common criminals.

The heavily armed troops sealed off La Bandera and Villa la Cultura slums in the southern part of Santiago and herded hundreds of men to a local park for security checks.

A radio reporter who was briefly arrested by the soldiers and taken to the park said later that he saw at least 500 men already gathered there and many more being brought.

The raid in the sprawling slums about five miles from downtown Santiago was one of a series of military operations around the capital’s perimeter that have occurred almost daily since April 29. They followed increased activity by foes of President Augusto Pinochet’s military government.