Chilean Student Comments
RFK Riot Grew From 'Big Stick'
By Hector Olave
"Angry leftist students spat on Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and threw eggs, rocks and money at him when he visited the University of Conception Tuesday. He had been warned by student leaders to stay away. . . . The leftist students told Kennedy they had nothing against him but that as a U.S. senator 'you are a representative of a government we are not able to accept.'"
That is the unadorned news.
For the American people there is more than a simple question after reading the above paragraph, which relates what happened in one university in one of the most important Chilean cities.
WHY DID a U.S. senator, sentimentally bound to the late President Kennedy, receive such demonstration from a fraction of the Chilean youth?
An answer for such a question isn't easy to find and requires a lock toward the cultural development of the young people in Chile, very accelerated in the last few years, at their way of thinking and at the interpretations they give to some facts of world politics.
On the other hand, one must observe some attitudes assumed by the United States in international politics. This is certainly what influences some actions of Chilean students including the Kennedy incident.
Chilean youth, particularly the cultured element in the universities, are careful observers of the international scene and have formed definite opinions on United States behavior.
WITH UNCERTAINTY, they read about Central America and actions of United Fruit Company; about the North American intervention in Viet Nam; about the U.S. history of domination in Interamerican Conferences; about an Organization of American States which continually falters; about the isolation of the Cuban people. Also, Chilean young people become incensed over U.S. influence in Chilean copper, while half the population of their country suffers chronically from hunger.
Those are a few of the historical antecedents faced by Chilean students when a U.S. senator visits their country.
Such demonstrations are common in Chile:
When Rafael Caldera, leader of the Venezuelan COPEI (a political party similar to the one which sustains the Chilean government) visited Chile last year, he received one of the most insulting demonstration ever given a political leader.
YUGOSLAV President Tito whent through the isolated streets of Santiago when he visited the country. With indifference to his concern, the people demonstrated their dislike.
Not very long ago Averell Harriman visited President Eduardo Frei to explain U.S. conduct in Santo Domingo. He also was a victim of the leftist students.
On the other hand, Charles de Gaulle, president of France, received favorable demonstrations when he visited Chile. His nationalist, independent philosophy endeared him to the young people.
Driverless Car Leaves
A KU student got a shock Tuesday night as he strolled down the sidewalk behind a driverless car.
Ken Kaufman, Augusta freshman, said he was walking along the sidewalk when he looked up and saw a late-model compact rolling down the hill in front of him, without headlights on.
He said it bounced off a tree into the street, hit a parked car, and came to rest against the curb blocking traffic. The owner of the car has not been identified.
What is truly surprising is that Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the late John F. Kennedy (who is still venerated in Latin America), has been the victim of the former variety of demonstrations.
WITH THE arrival of the government of Eduardo Frei in 1964, a new generation began to manage the little South American republic of about eight million people. This new generation includes a cultured, curious and nationalist youth. A youth who do not see U.S. international policy with favorable eyes.
Behind this big group of Chilean students is another, not so large but very active and compact faction: the communists, pro-Castroists and "anti-imperialists." This group, in certain measure, sees itself as an influential, managing class—as when Frei travelled first to Europe after taking office instead of to the U.S., breaking a perennial custom among Latin American presidents.
Obviously, this latter group is more vehemently opposed to U.S. policies for ideological reasons.
Robert F. Kennedy was pelt with rocks and eggs not because he is Robert Kennedy, but because Chilean students identify him with the undesirable aspects of American policy. The insults were not directed to John Kennedy's brother but, as the leftists say, to a history of Latin American exploitation.
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Daily Kansan
Thursday, November 18, 1965
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