The World - News from Aug. 12, 1988

A member of Chile’s military junta rejected a plea by the Roman Catholic Church that the ruling body name a consensus candidate for a fall plebiscite rather than Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the authoritarian president who has ruled the nation for 15 years. “It is too late,” navy chief Jose Toribio Merino said. Merino is one of the four armed forces chiefs who make up the junta, which includes Pinochet, who also serves as army chief. The 72-year-old leader has shown no sign that he will accept a presidential nominee other than himself when the junta meets Aug. 30 to make its selection for the one-candidate referendum.