Showdown, Limited

Into Montevideo harbor last week steamed the U.S. light cruiser Memphis, the destroyer leader Somers and the destroyer escort Christopher -- all commanded by gruff, hearty, barrel-chested Vice-Admiral Jonas Howard Ingram. U.S. sailors swarmed ashore, paraded with Uruguayan sailors, enjoyed the "best shore leave we've had." U.S. bombers flew down from Brazil, established a base in Uruguay, roared over the La Plata estuary almost within hearing of Buenos Aires and its Colonels Government in Argentina.

Said Vice Admiral Ingram, speaking in directly to Argentines across the estuary: "We have cleaned the enemy from the sea lanes of the South Atlantic. But in the Western Hemisphere not all our enemies are encountered on the high seas. We are down here to support and defend the friends of the Allies, wherever they may be. And battle Axis influences wherever they may be. ... The job of an armed force in wartime is to support our friends and bring discomfort to our enemies." The Vice Admiral's words amounted to a big-stick warning that: 1) the U.S. regards the present Argentine Government as a hostile regime; and 2) the U.S. will defend its democratic friends, such as Uruguay, from any military, Fascist-like revolt instigated by Argentina.

The Neighbors. Little, liberal, democratic Uruguay (pop. 2,000,000) has nervously watched the development of aggressive, Fascist-like nationalism in neighboring Argentina. The group of Army jingoes called "The Colonels," led by Colonel Juan Domingo Peron and nominally headed by President-General Pedro Ramirez, has defied the U.S., the United Nations, its Latin neighbors. Almost certainly "The Colonels" instigated the revolt of Gualberto Villarroel in Bolivia (TIME, Jan. 3., et seq.}. Probably the Argentine junta has plotted similar moves in other countries, will plot again.

Backed up by Jonas Ingram, his ships and his planes, the Uruguayan Govern ment announced its refusal to recognize the Villarroel regime. This action was a stinging slap for Argentina's Colonels. The Bolivian regime of Gualberto Villarroel, recognized only by Argentina, was firmly in the hemispheric doghouse; the U.S. was trying to line up its Latin friends in a united front to resist any further aggressions by Argentina. Then, when the stage was set, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull prepared to loose a long-advertised blast against the Argentine and Bolivian regimes.

When it came this week, it was a mild bleat against the Bolivian Government and "subversive groups hostile to the Allied cause." The Secretary refused to recognize Bolivia's Villarroel, but said nothing directly about Argentina's Colonels. For reasons of his own, President Roosevelt at the last moment had instructed Cordell Hull to erase all direct references to Argentina.

After Vice Admiral Ingram's pointed remarks in Montevideo, the result was a crashing anticlimax. A prevalent guess in Washington: Argentina's Government had already heard enough, was about to break relations with the Axis, and Mr. Roosevelt did not want to anger its Government at a critical moment. If not, the U.S. had suffered a dismal setback.

The Failure. The quarrel with Argentina is one of the saddest failures of U.S. diplomacy. Argentina is more like the U.S. than is any other Latin American nation. It is rich, developed, modern. Its people are enterprising, businesslike, literate, gadget-loving, urban. They look, dress, act much like U.S. Americans. There is no good reason why the two countries should not be friends.

There are many bad reasons, most of them stemming from the tendency of U.S. diplomacy to lump all Latin American nations together, treat them alike as backward children who have to be bribed with financial candy or ruled with an iron (though palsied and clumsy) hand. This policy works with some of the weakest and smallest, though it never works very well and ill becomes the great Good Neighbor. With Argentina it does not work at all.

The Argentines expect to be treated as equals. Failing to receive such treatment, many have turned to defiance. Their wounded national pride has soured to hostile nationalism. Most of them do not like the strutting Colonels who have usurped their government. Most of them hate the Axis, would be far happier in the United Nations camp. But, simultaneously, they cannot help being a little proud of a regime which dares to defy the unmannerly "Colossus of the North."

The harm is done. Argentine military Fascism is well established. It is native, not merely a Nazi-inspired copy of European models. Nevertheless it is dangerous, and it is apparently trying to set up similar regimes in other Latin countries. If it succeeds, the damage will be serious.

Short of actual armed force--Vice Admiral Ingram probably did not expect to fire his guns last week--the weapons against the troublesome Colonels are economic. Argentina is too big, too rich, too proud to yield to loans, Lend-Lease, trade favors or other forms of collective bribery. But there is another weapon at hand: a complete embargo against all Argentine trade. To have any chance of success, an embargo requires the tight cooperation of the U.S., Britain and Brazil.

The U.S. could stop all trade with Argentina and hardly feel it, but the British are on the spot. Their investments in Argentina (which might be confiscated in a clash) amounted to $1,360,000,000 (latest figures), compared to $311,000,000 for the U.S. Their imports from Argentina in 1943 were valued at over $183,500,000. The most vital item: beef.

Brazil is a different case. Her difficulties would be largely financial, and the U.S. could still her pains with dollar-paregoric. But Brazil, officially friendly to the U.S., is not at all displeased to see her rival Argentina in the bad books of the U.S. She might not be eager to help make Argentina clean up her Government, qualify for U.S. commercial favors.

In any event, an embargo would have to be applied with more finesse than the U.S. State Department has generally shown in Latin America. Unless the Argentine people understood that it was directed solely against their Colonels, and not against them, it could arouse a storm of popular hatred more dangerous than the official regime.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.