Poison in Buenos Aires

Argentine nationalists put on a show last week in front of the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires. Waving flags of Argentina, Spain, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile, they shouted "Down with the Yankees!" Loud were the cheers for the new President, Edelmiro Farrell, stooge of Fascist-minded Colonel Juan Domingo Peron. Loud were the jeers for the U.S., which had failed to form a united hemisphere front against his recognition.*

The Argentine Way. The U.S. is apt to have long-continued trouble with Argentina. This prospect was further indicated last week by another Argentinian, Ramon Lavalle, a liberal Argentine journalist and ex-diplomat (who has anglicized his name to rhyme with "canal"). Lavalle wrote in the March issue of the Atlantic Monthly:

"For generations Argentinian diplomacy has recognized but one aim: to control Latin America. . . .

"Decades in advance of the Nazi theory of . . . racial superiority, the Argentinians were well accustomed to calling themselves a 'white stock nation' as a mark of distinction. . . . Notwithstanding strong similarities in culture . . . [with other Latin American nations] . . . the Argentinians feel themselves a kind of European aristocracy forced to live by a trick of fate in wild surroundings."

Despised Sisters. When the Argentinian "talks about 'sister republics,' . . . he does so for reasons of political expediency. As a matter of fact . . . [he] looks down upon other Latin Americans with contempt."

Argentinians were taught that "all America was divided between two powers, Argentina and the United States. [Argentina was] idealistic . . . endeavoring to protect the 'sister republics' . . . [the U.S.] was always depicted as a black soul ready to back his diplomacy with cash . . . The anti-American feeling was intense . . . among all classes.

"At international conferences and congresses . . . Argentina [dramatized] within Latin America her role of savior. She had prominence on account of greater wealth; her prosperous state allowed her to approach the smaller republics with diplomatic offers of guidance and help."

Drastic Neighbor. This policy was successful during the period of U.S. "big-stick" intervention in Latin American affairs. But the Good Neighbor Policy was a setback. Argentinians watched "one republic after another being won over to Washington by the simple device of a Pan American policy founded on sincerity. . . . It was plain to the makers of Argentinian diplomacy that a drastic move was imperative. . . .They went in search of an issue and Washington gave them an unexpected one: the growing danger of fascism. . . .

"Argentinian ideas ran . . . like this: Latin American Governments are fascist by nature. Mexico aside, it can be safely assumed that Latin America is far more afraid of a progressive democracy than of fascism. Any acceptance of progressive democracy might result in [the existing governments] being swept out of power,"

Defensive Neutrality. The new policy was not successful either. In spite of frantic Argentinian efforts at three Pan American Congresses, "the continental security belt against Axis penetrations came into being." Because of this defeat the Argentinian "neutrality policy was declared . . . in order to show that Argentina could get along, alone and well, in spite of Washington." The Government's "international position . . . is supported by great numbers of Argentinians, especially in the hinterland. There is danger that the Argentinian generals will go to any extent in planning revolts [in neighboring countries]."

Mr. Lavalle does not entirely despair of his people. "The fate of democracy in the Americas is at stake. The poison which is dying in Europe is working in Latin America. Nothing short of a complete moral and material blockade can stop such danger. Down at Buenos Aires the only hope is free elections. If they come, Argentina can start anew."

* A technicality might yet cause the new regime trouble. When former president Pedro Ramirez resigned last week, he stated he had been forced out by Peron's militarists, reputedly wrote the Argentine Supreme Court that the Farrell regime was illegal. This development strengthens the U.S. position, gives other nations a valid reason for shunning the Farrell regime

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