Correspondents' Correspondence
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TaKEOUTS OF MORE THaN PERSONaL INTEREST FROM LETTERS aND OTHER COMMUNICaTIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS. Problems for Peron Buenos aires-although Juan Domingo...
...The conservative landed oligarchy is hoping he can restore order and thereby prevent a possible Leftist takeover...
...State Department has let it be known that Washington now views Peron not as a menace but as argentina's best hope for political stability and economic progress...
...is better today than it was during Peron's previous reign...
...Embassy criticizing argentine economic legislation, the general outlook for relations with the U.S...
...For the time being, I have only one moderately comforting suggestion for fellow americans visiting Rome: Go to a food market, check the prices, then make some mental calculations and comparisons...
...The Peronists have already extended $200 million in credits to Cuba for the purchase of trucks, tractors and agricultural machinery manufactured in argentina...
...Everything has gone up in price...
...Whether Peron was a patron of Nazism or not, there is no denying that in the years preceding his ouster he was a ruthless and reckless dictator...
...His main protection in terra infidelium, the almighty dollar, is gone...
...Instead of seeking diplomatic superiority over Brazil, he may-well choose to concentrate on closing ranks with independent and Left-of-center governments in Peru, Chile, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Jamaica, and Trinidad-Tobago...
...He seems to be the right man to wage the right kind of fight, since Italy's heretofore uncontrolled inflation, according to a recent report of the International Monetary Fund, is basically a result of the irresponsibly high level of government spending...
...after he takes office, however, Peron will have to satisfy the expectations of a legend to retain his broad mandate...
...Problems for Peron Buenos aires-although Juan Domingo Peron is universally conceded a hands-down victory in the presidential elections to be held here September 23, the 77-year-old former dictator's capacity to govern remains very much in question, especially if persistent rumors that he has serious health problems prove accurate...
...Many of the students and labor leaders who have devoutly advocated Peronism as a means of unifying protest against past military regimes are far more reserved in their personal attitudes toward the man who lived in palatial comfort during his 18 years of exile, most of it spent as a guest of Franco in Madrid...
...Diplomatic relations with argentina's sister republics in the Hemisphere will also tax Peron's imagination...
...The chances are that you will leave the store counting your blessings (if you have any left, that is, in the throes of Phase IV).-silvio F. Senigallia...
...Still, there is no getting away from higher costs: Partly because of the value-added tax, forced upon it by the other Common Market nations, Italy has the world's worst record for runaway prices after Japan...
...In a dramatic policy reversal, the U.S...
...Political instability and economic insolvency, aggravated by an annual inflation rate of nearly 70 per cent, have led a majority of argentines to support their old cau-dillo, who enjoys the appeal of having governed when, as they remember it, days were better...
...On June 20, when Peron returned to argentina, factional rivalries erupted into a gun battle at what was to be a triumphal welcoming rally, leaving 34 persons dead and another 342 wounded...
...But in august the Radicals decided to run their leader, Ricardo Balbin, who lost to Peron in the 1951 race, rather than accept the vice-presidential slot...
...But he is also saddled with political baggage that may become burdensome in the months ahead, and his many personal enemies in business, the military and the intelligentsia are merely awaiting the inevitable erosion of his glamour before exhibiting their hostility...
...In Italy, though, the situation is not as bad as in France and Germany, for the currency here has been doing poorly too...
...Though the immediate dispute is with Paraguay, the incident points up long-standing conflicts between argentina and Brazil-from whose military dictatorship Peron will encounter stiff competition in pursuing his nation's traditional quest to act as a spokesman for the South american community in international forums...
...traveler...
...Key military figures like General Jorge Raul Carcagno, commander-in-chief of the army, who owe their recent promotions to the Peronists, are standing behind him (they also recently restored to Peron the rank of lieutenant general, which had been stripped from him upon his ouster in 1955...
...It remains to be seen whether he has learned enough during his long exile to judiciously govern a nation plagued with difficult problems and divided by fierce hostilities.-stewart Sutin Dollar Doldrums Rome-the typical american tourist in Europe has frequently been depicted as a slightly comic character: awkward, insecure, peculiarly dressed, loud, a stranger in strange lands beset by the difficulties of unfamiliar languages, rich food and greedy natives...
...and extremist elements, like the People's Revolutionary army, a Trotskyite guerrilla group, openly distrust Peron and his bourgeois advisors...
...Furthermore, he faces a major dilemma in the demand of his nationalist supporters that he expropriate foreign-owned properties...
...Hector Campora, Peron's stand-in for the presidential elections of last March, the conservatives seem to have won the upper hand within the Peronist government, now formally headed by interim President Raul Lastiri...
...Despite the fact that the announcement of the Cuban credits was pointedly linked to a diplomatic incident involving the publication of a memorandum from the U.S...
...Nonetheless, Left-wing guerrilla leaders, who are determined that the party "bureaucrats" follow a revolutionary course, have threatened: "Whoever commits deviations or treason will be subjected to punitive measures established by popular justice...
...In Buenos aires, the move was seen as a reprisal for argentine protests against a recent Brazilian-Paraguayan agreement to construct a dam at Itaipu on the Parana River, a major artery from the coast to important commercial centers in the interior...
...To the same end, he will have to stop the wave of kidnappings that has caused many foreign businessmen to flee the country...
...The innumerable "kids," with their inevitable blue jeans, tee shirts, sandals, knapsacks, and long hair, seem to be taking this in stride, but the devaluation of the dollar has been a heavy blow to the average, budget-conscious U.S...
...Since the July 13 resignation of Dr...
...This means that regardless of exchange rates, the tourist, and for that matter the resident, now spends considerably more to buy less...
...Failure to accommodate this faction would risk loss of face, but argentina lacks the financial resources to pay equitable compensation-recessary to protect its credit rating with capital-exporting nations and international banks...
...These days this innocent abroad has an additional worry...
...While neither of these groups is expected to make much of a dent in Peron's victory margin, they will stand ready to form an active political opposition should his hold begin to slip later on...
...as they are aware, tensions persist between the Left and Right wings of the Peronist movement...
...Peron then surprised everyone by selecting his wife, Isabel Martinez de Peron, as his vice-presidential candidate...
...When Peron first emerged as argentina's ruling power in 1944, most North americans saw him as a disruptive demagogue if not a Fascist...
...The powerful Radical Civic Union, a middle-of-the-road party that finished a distant second with about 30 per cent of the vote in the last national elections, briefly considered Peron's invitation to join in a coalition with his Justicialist party...
...With the exception of augustin Tosca, a hard-nosed Leftist labor leader from Cordoba, union officials are virtually unanimous in backing the ex-president, who has long been adored by the working class...
...americans vacationing in western and northern Europe are painfully aware that their greenbacks have lost at least 25 per cent of their buying power...
...Last month Paraguay closed its border adjoining the state of Formosa in northern argentina, citing the presence of "antigovern-ment elements dedicated to terrorist action" there...
...La Malfa's unenviable task, however, is not made any easier by the country's chronic political instability and the aggressiveness of Italy's labor unions...
...For the moment, most middle-class people who once feared and despised Peron feel he is the only alternative to continued social and economic turmoil...
...In Klosters, a lovely Swiss village, about 30 per cent of the hotel reservations made by americans (including one by your correspondent) have been canceled because of the dollar drop...
...a coalition of eight minor parties, mostly representing provincial districts, has also put up a conservative candidate, Francisco Manrique...
...The only sign of improvement for beleaguered Italians and harried visitors is the new Treasury Minister, Ugo La Malfa, a widely respected economist and an advocate of prudence, thrift and austerity...
...in the last two years the dollar's devaluation with regard to the lira has been no more than 5 per cent...
...there are no more bargains to be found overseas...
...In seeking to revitalize the economy, Peron will have to persuade the argentine Congress to pass the unpleasant belt-tightening legislation Campora was unable to enact...
...Thus, if Peron chooses too moderate a policy, there is danger of renewed dissension and violence...
Vol. 56 • September 1973 • No. 17
