Argentina After Peron
ALEXANDER, BOBERT J.
It will take genuine statesmanship and political ability to guide Argentina back to democracy after almost a decade of dictatorship Argentina After Peron By Robert J. Alexander The sudden fall of...
...Better weather and higher prices paid to farmers have improved the situation somewhat in the last few years, but there is still a severe farm crisis in Argentina...
...he could not afford to let this group continue to exist indefinitely...
...Though Catholicism was taught in the public schools, peronismo was taught much more energetically...
...Political parties will have to be given free rein so as to bring about the political realignment which is now inevitable...
...Another was Peron's attack on the Catholic Church...
...he also tremendously increased armed-forces budgets, and supplied large sums for the individual purses of various Government leaders...
...The Government paid the farmers low prices, received high prices abroad...
...Through political strikes and street demonstrations, they may be able to create incidents which will again convince the workers that Peron is their only defender...
...Peron's backers will undoubtedly re-form, particularly if he gives any indication from abroad of a desire to return...
...This was one of the main factors leading to the political crisis which finally overthrew Peron...
...After four days of seesaw fighting and considerable confusion, the rebels triumphed and General Eduardo Lonardi emerged as Provisional President...
...The reasons for Peron's turn against the Church were varied...
...The corruption was on a scale sufficient to weigh seriously on the nation's economy...
...The upshot of Peron's activity was that he became the principal figure in the ruling Army group...
...These may be a serious hindrance to the maintenance of an advanced social policy...
...This discouraged the farmers, as did the concurrent rise in wages and social benefits in urban industry...
...All this will pave the way for elections, which President Lonardi has promised will be held within six months...
...The main obstacles to this orderly return to democratic government are still-loyal peronistas and rivalries within the victorious camp...
...Resentment of this oil contract was one of the immediate causes of the growth in discontent against Peron...
...For one thing, he was undoubtedly looking for another propaganda bogeyman to replace the United States...
...Industrialization moved rapidly in the fields of consumers' goods, medium industries, and even iron and steel...
...When rival military men ousted him in October 1915, the workers seized control of Buenos Aires and forced the Army to bring Peron back from prison and return him to power...
...Though long a personal foe of Peron, Lonardi apparently has had no very active political record and is not identified with any of the nation's political parties...
...Though Peron entered the Government through a military coup in June 1943, largely engineered by pro-Nazi elements, he quickly reoriented the dictatorship...
...He temporized for a few weeks--dismissing many intimate associates, suspending action on the oil contracts and the anti-Church campaign--but then bid for supreme power again...
...investments, he chose the occasion of the Milton Eisenhower visit in 1953 to halt his anti-U.S...
...And the shortage of foreign currency was the key to Peron's change of face toward the United States...
...The peronistas attempted to make Peron and his wife semi-deities...
...Will the anti-Yankeeism stirred up by Peron be intensified by his successor, or will the dictator's fall bring a new era of good relations between the United States and Argentina...
...The second source of income was the sale of the country's agricultural and grazing products abroad...
...Time alone can tell whether these promises will be fulfilled...
...Peron's policies were aimed to alter fundamentally the nature of Argentine society...
...The "economic independence" which he continually stressed was to be achieved by repatriating foreign investments in Argentina, stimulating industrialization, and building a national merchant marine...
...The result was that agriculture suffered severely under Peron...
...President Lonardi seems to have gotten off to a good start, but it will require real statesmanship and political ability to guide Argentina into truly democratic waters...
...Realizing the need for civilian support, Peron first approached the country's industrialists, without success...
...Concluding that he needed U.S...
...The events of October 1945 paved the way for Peron's election as President in February 1946--a post he held for more than nine years...
...In addition, he hoped to head off the formation of a Christian Democratic party among the nation's active Catholics...
...On August 31, Peron offered to resign, but sent his offer to the General Confederation of Labor instead of Congress, which would have been called on to act on it...
...Peron's totalitarianism would certainly have clashed with the Church sooner or later...
...He maintained close personal control during those years by playing off his Army backers against his labor supporters...
...Peron made a fiery speech calling on his supporters to lynch anyone who got in their way...
...He then turned his attention to the working class...
...He has also promised to maintain the gains achieved by labor under the Peron regime...
...campaign...
...This maneuver seemed to indicate Peron's return to power, but it undoubtedly sparked the revolt which began in the provinces on September 16...
...Nevertheless, the overthrow of Peron, and the new President's good intentions, at least open the door to the rebuilding of progressive democracy in Argentina...
...Will the social and economic changes launched by the Peron regime be continued, or will the "oligarchy" attempt to get back in control of the nation's affairs...
...The first was the credit which Argentina had in London and other European capitals after World War II...
...The Navy led this attempted revolt...
...The trade unions will have to be freed from the peronista gangster leadership which has dominated them in recent years...
...Will Peron's demise mean the re-establishment of democracy, or just another military dictatorship...
...School primers were rewritten to picture the Perons as the source of all good...
...Not only did he use its proceeds to finance economic changes...
...Within two years, Peron had the support of most of the country's organized workers, through a combination of favorable, Government-imposed collective-bargaining contracts, nationwide social security, and other benefits...
...The first step in Peron's overthrow was the unsuccessful uprising of last June 16...
...Lonardi's first cabinet includes several strong conservatives, as well as military men...
...Finally, there had been from the start a small but well-organized Catholic group among Peron's supporters, which he had for years futilely tried to disintegrate...
...Many small farmers drifted into the cities, and both the area under cultivation and the total farm output fell drastically and continuously during the Peron regime...
...Peron did not succeed to any great degree in attracting U.S...
...Thus, when the country suffered drought for three years in the early Fifties, there was a severe shortage of grain and meat not only for export but for home consumption...
...At the same lime, the military regime dealt harshly with those in the labor movement who would not go along with Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare Peron...
...It is notable that this uprising did not get far in the garrisons around Buenos Aires, where fear of Peron's labor supporters was most vivid...
...Issues of economic policy, Church-state relations, labor-management affairs can divide the various groups in the triumphant camp...
...investors, but he did succeed last spring in signing a contract with Standard Oil of California for the development of Argentine oil resources...
...British- and French-owned railroads were bought back, as was the U.S.-owned telephone system...
...The lack of farm products for export produced a shortage of foreign currency, which Argentina needed to pay for her capital and consumption imports...
...The work of reconstruction will include the de-peronization of the state and politics...
...The terms of the contract aroused so much opposition, even among peronistas, that Peron was unable to have it ratified by Congress...
...Lonardi has promised to restore democratic government, including free elections, and liberty of speech, press and party activity...
...These programs were paid for from two sources...
...its merchant marine has connections with the U.S., Europe and other Latin American countries...
...This was plainly a maneuver, and the next day the Peron supporters turned out to "demand" that he not resign...
...during the war...
...Peron undoubtedly went much too far in his exploitation of Argentine agriculture...
...It will take genuine statesmanship and political ability to guide Argentina back to democracy after almost a decade of dictatorship Argentina After Peron By Robert J. Alexander The sudden fall of Juan Domingo Peron presents Argentina with critical problems...
...The motley elements in the anti-Peron camp may well fall to fighting among themselves...
...Argentina had sold large amounts of wheat, meat and other products for which she could not immediately be paid in goods...
...Peron used these credits to buy back the foreign-owned industries in Argentina...
...Argentina has become the leading Latin American maritime power...
...The Army, in suppressing it, stripped Peron of much of his power...
...The Peron Government became the sole purchaser and exporter of the principal Argentine farm products, and profited greatly from these transactions...
Vol. 38 • October 1955 • No. 39
