Pinochet Marks 15 Years; Bomb Defused

Gen. Augusto Pinochet celebrated the 15th anniversary of his coup d’etat with an appeal Sunday for eight more years in power to consolidate the gains since “that heroic day,” but he later was forced to evade protesters who reportedly stoned his motorcade.

On a day charged with emotion for Chileans, left-wing opponents of Pinochet battled riot police after a ceremony at the grave of the late Marxist President Salvador Allende, who died in the bloody coup.

The government said police discovered a 132-pound bomb hidden in a car on a street packed with Pinochet supporters--just outside the office building where Pinochet was about to speak to 3,000 invited guests. The 72-year-old general did not refer to the incident in his speech, which declared that a victory in next month’s presidential plebiscite would ensure a return to complete and stable democracy.

A government statement said that the bomb, defused just 11 minutes before it was timed to explode, would have caused “a number of deaths.”

Rock-Throwing Crowd

Later in the day, Pinochet’s motorcade had to pass through a jeering, rock-throwing crowd of about 1,000 protesters before and after a rally in the working-class Santiago neighborhood of Cerro Navia, reporters at the scene said. Police sources said presidential security police fired several shots as the motorcade made its way through the crowd. At least two protesters were wounded and 20 arrested, the sources said.

In the seaside town of Vina del Mar, 80 miles west of here, about 5,000 people gathered at the grave of Allende, whose three years in office were filled with strikes, shortages and unrest. Mourners placed red carnations on a new marble tombstone--the grave had been unmarked since Allende’s hurried burial a day after the coup.

Speakers recalled Allende’s commitment to democracy in urging the crowd to help defeat Pinochet in the Oct. 5 plebiscite. They heard a tape of Allende’s final speech, broadcast while the presidential palace was under siege, in which Allende said: “Sooner rather than later, the great avenues will open once again along which free citizens will march in order to build a better society.”

After speeches accusing the United States and fascist interests in Chile of fomenting the coup, the crowd descended from the hillside cemetery in a noisy but peaceful march toward the town center and surged past its authorized destination. Within three blocks, police vans charged the marchers, firing tear gas and streams of high-pressure water. That set off a two-hour melee, with rock-throwing and police baton charges around the central square of the normally placid town.

At Least 137 Arrested

Police reported that at least 137 demonstrators were arrested.

In his nationally televised remarks, Pinochet also criticized the United States, which since 1985 has pressed him to allow a return to Chile’s traditional democratic rule and to end human rights abuses. To strong applause, he said there are “certain obstacles” to better relations with Washington, “derived in part from disinformation about the true reality of our country.” Departing from his text, he added, “In a word, they still do not know us.”

Pinochet’s speech to the nation and the rally at Allende’s grave reflected the nation’s contrasting memories of the past and equally divergent visions of the future in the final tense weeks of the campaign, which will culminate in the first nationwide vote on Chile’s leader since the coup.

Pinochet emphasized economic gains, including a fall in unemployment from 22% in 1982 to 7% this year. Also stressed was a drop in inflation from more than 500% during Allende’s final year to below 10% this year, a 30-year low. He also announced a $24 bonus payment for all public workers, benefiting 1.7 million state employees and retirees.

The president said that in Chile’s democratic future, which excludes Communist and other “totalitarian” parties, “all sectors . . . will have the right to protect their legitimate interests and objectives.”

Those at Allende’s grave, including Communists and members of factions of Allende’s now-splintered Socialist Party, chanted, “No, no, to Pinochet, no, no, to the murderer of 1973,” and “It will fall, the dictatorship will fall.”

Anibal Palma, education minister in Allende’s government and a leader of the United Left coalition, said, “This is homage to the thousands who were killed or disappeared to defend the ideals of freedom and democracy. . . . They tried to erase his memory--but here we are, thousands, witnesses to what has happened, and resolved to reclaim our freedom.”

Allende is widely believed to have committed suicide in the palace with an automatic weapon that was a gift to him from Cuban President Fidel Castro, but some followers still maintain that he was killed by police or soldiers.