Argentine President Attacks Opponents on Whispering Campaign

Grey River Argus, 26 February 1949, Page 7

Argentine President Attacks Opponents on Whispering Campaign

BUENOS AIRES, February

The Argentine President (General Peron) in a speech to the Railway Workers’ Union last night, said that his enemies were resorting to “an irregular warfare of rumours, like a bunch of gossiping old maids”, because they opposed his regime. He intended to fight his enemies with the truth, which “is like showing the Cross to the Devil”. His followers were not seeking to provoke a fight, he said, but “our opponents ought to be aware that we are warriors and will battle to the last breath if we are attached”. General Peron said his foes were divided into three classes: (1) _the leaders of the Conservative and Progressive Democrat parties; (2) certain economic groups allied with foreign capitalists; (3) the Communists and Socialists, who posed as bis supporters in order to infiltrate .the labour unions.

General Peron recalled past mass demonstrations of workers in support of his regime, and implied that he might have to call them out again within a few days. He made no direct reference to repeated rumours that the Army had turned against him. A wave of rumours swept Buenos Aires during the last 16 days, chiefly because th;re are no daily newspapers, these having ceased publication because or a printers’ strike.