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The
MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour -- October 5, 1988
PREPARING FOR
THE PLEBISCITE
 As
Chileans prepared for a nationwide plebiscite to determine whether longtime
military leader Augusto Pinochet was to stay in power, foreign governments
looked on with concern and interest.
"What's at stake for the U.S. is this: We are convinced of the
importance, in terms of our own interests, of a democratic world,"
US Ambassador to Chile Harry Barnes, told the NewsHour's Charles Krause.
"Obviously, this is our hemisphere, and what happens here ... can
have a considerable effect on us."
 Barnes
said he thought the end of the Pinochet government could mean the beginning
of a democratic structure in Chile.
"My own conviction is that Chileans are ready -- more than ready
-- to take on the responsibilities of a democratic system again,"
Barnes said, "and that's very much in our interest."
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