Argentina—Another Beginning

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31124, 29 July 1966, Page 12

Argentina—Another Beginning

Argentina has been in a state of anarchy for nearly 40 years. The silent coup which, at the end of June, unseated President Illia and put government in the hands of a military junta headed by General Ongania may be regarded as the latest expression of a chronic political instability. The exiled Colonel Peron brought about the end of the old form of Argentinian society—a kind of benevolent autocracy —after 1930, when he crushed what was left of the ruling caste and the existing social system. Now it is said that efforts to create a European-style democracy have failed. Certainly another break in the continuity of constitutional authority—one estimate is that army rule might last for a decade if a serious attempt at economic reconstruction Is to be attempted—illustrates the difficulty of persuading a volatile people to accept the disciplines of popular government.

The coup apparently did not take the country by surprise. Dr. Illia had none of the qualities of leadership needed to lift the economy out of a morass of stagnation and inflation. He presided over a minority Government; and with half of its term run and congressional elections due in March of next year, the most notable feature of the political situation was the steady increase in popularity of the Peronista Party. In the mid-term election half of the members of Congress would have been seeking re-election. The Peronist bloc, with 52 seats, was the second largest in Congress, and all the indications were that it might gain control next March. In three provincial elections this year, the party had emerged with the largest share of the votes. The Army was not prepared to risk another Peronist regime; hence the timing of the coup. Almost General Ongania’s first act was to ban all political parties and to extend the take-over of power to some of the provinces where Peronist or Communist strength was plainly revealed. Similarly, the provincial governors and the members of the Supreme Court were suspended, General Ongania taking the unpopular course of placing his own nominees on the judiciary.

General Ongania’s task is a formidable one, the more so because, having no political organisation behind him, he must seek advisers and administrators where he can find them—and trust those he does appoint. He faces the seemingly impossible task of crushing Peronism. He cannot pretend, as other political leaders did after Peron was deposed in 1955, that Peronism had been automatically destroyed. The fact is that today some 30 per cent of Argentina’s 20 million people are Peronists: and the leading trade unions are under Peronist leadership. To bring organised labour under control will be a major undertaking. The railways, for instance, showing each year a huge deficit, are hopelessly overstaffed. One estimate is that an economic staff would be about 120,000. In 1963, staffing stood at 158.000. and today is approximately 175.000. Wage increases have been largely uncontrolled—a trend encouraged by employers competing for labour.

General Ongania is hoping for the support of the Labour movement in attempting economic reform, and proposes to refer problems in this field to advisory groups representing management and labour, whose task it will be to suggest solutions. An effort will also be made to prune the administrative branches of Government wherever there is much overlapping of ministries and secretariats. The calm acceptance of the coup may mean that General Ongania has the country behind him. Argentina has an immense wealth of resources and no racial problems. Its people are literate, industrious, and sophisticated. It could achieve material prosperity by using its great endowments in a disciplined, progressive manner, instead of wasting them through political corruption and incompetence. General Ongania may be hoping to evolve a political system suitable to the country’s needs and to the Latin-American temperament. It will be a considerable achievement if he can arrest the decline In prestige that has occurred over the last 30 years.