DATE=2/18/2000 TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP TITLE=NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT U-S ROLE IN CHILE NUMBER=6-11690 BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE DATELINE=WASHINGTON EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS TELEPHONE=619-3335 CONTENT= INTRO: An especially contentious chapter in U-S relations with Chile is resurfacing. It comes as an indirect result of the arrest in England, more than a year ago, of General Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator. He is wanted in Spain to stand trial for crimes against humanity, and the death of some Spaniards during his authoritarian rule. As a result of the Pinochet affair, President Clinton has ordered the opening of long-sealed U-S files. That has led to the long-suspected disclosure that the State Department covered up information on possible U-S involvement in the deaths of two anti-Pinochet Americans living in Chile. The case is drawing significant editorial comment in the U-S press. We get a sampling now from ________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup. TEXT: For 26 years, American officials have steadfastly denied any role in the unsolved murders of two young Americans, filmmaker and writer Charles Horman and his colleague, Frank Teruggi. They were in Santiago, supporting the leftist government of Salvador Allende, who was attempting to turn Chile into a socialist state. The U-S government was afraid that such a development might lead other Latin American nations into the socialist camp and, eventually, to communism. They applauded the military coup in 1973, led by General Pinochet, that overthrew the Allende government. It was during this turbulent time that the two Americans were picked up by Chilean intelligence agents and never seen again. State Department files, now released in full for the first time, show the U-S Embassy in Chile knew that both men had been killed by Chilean intelligence, possibly with Central Intelligence Agency acquiescence or even approval. The revelations are causing a series of strongly disapproving editorials, like this one in The New York Times. VOICE: It is now clear that the American government knew far more about the disappearance and murder ... than it acknowledged at the time. Indeed, American intelligence and military officials may have encouraged General Augusto Pinochet's security forces to round them up even though it was clear that the two men, like thousands of Chileans arrested during the same period, were likely to be mistreated, if not killed. The truth about clandestine American activities in the Cold War has been difficult to unearth and painful to confront. In the name of opposing communism, Washington sometimes ignored its own democratic principles and condoned the kind of brutal conduct it publicly deplored. The case of the two Americans murdered in Chile seems to belong in this category. ... It is now time for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon to follow Mr. Clinton's order, and the example of openness set by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. TEXT: In New England, the Boston Globe is also horrified at the callous way official Americans in Chile must have acted. VOICE: It is never too late to learn the truth about certain things. Recently-declassified documents about the C-I-A's shameful role in the murder of Charles Horman and Frank Teruggi in Chile, during the repression that followed General ... Pinochet's ... putsch, ought to be welcomed by every American who understands how fragile democracy can be. ... Three years after [General] Pinochet's security forces murdered [Mr.] Horman and [Mr.] Teruggi, the State Department conducted two internal reviews of the crime and a subsequent coverup. The reviews were prompted by a former Chilean intelligence officer who said he was present when [General] Pinochet's intelligence chief said [Mr.] Horman knew too much -- presumably about U-S involvement in the coup -- and had to disappear. ... President Clinton did the right thing when he ordered the files declassified after [General] Pinochet was indicted in Spain for crimes against humanity. ... There should also be a wider search for the full story of Washington's complicity in [General] Pinochet's coup. The terrible truth about those old crimes is that they disclose a dalliance with fascism abroad. TEXT: In Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is also angry that the State Department hid vital information about the possible complicity of the U-S government in the murders. VOICE: What the censored [State Department] documents were about was avoiding embarrassment, and that is not a legal exception to disclosure. ... President Clinton is right to push for full disclosure about U-S involvement in Chile and in other Cold War hot spots, and the Pentagon and C-I-A must also comply. TEXT: Lastly, in the Pacific Ocean state of Hawaii, The Honolulu Star-Bulletin weighs in with these observations. VOICE: In complying with the Freedom of Information Act by releasing documents to the public, the federal government may black out portions on grounds of national security and executive privilege. However, those exemptions can be abused to cover up embarrassing information. The State Department clearly engaged in such abuse in denying knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the killing of two American men in Chile. ... Their deaths were dramatized in the 1982 movie, "Missing." ... Finally, documents released following [President] Clinton's order, removing the black lines that had hidden large swaths of information, have made clear that the State Department knew from the beginning that the Pinochet government had killed the two Americans. Moreover, the documents reveal that the C-I-A might have played a role. TEXT: On that disquieting note, we conclude this sampling of current press opinion on the newly- disclosed information about the deaths of two U-S citizens in Chile during the turmoil surrounding the fall of the Allende government by the coup d'etat led by General Pinochet. NEB/ANG/WTW 18-Feb-2000 14:18 PM EDT (18-Feb-2000 1918 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .