Report on Terror

From Arnaldo Cortesi, New York Times correspondent in Buenos Aires, came a full, coherent account of Argentine terror. Wrote Cortesi:

"The Argentine Government had no sooner declared war on Germany and Japan and signed the final acts of the Mexico City conference than it deprived the Argentine people of what small remains of freedom they still possessed.

"Under the pretext that in wartime anyone who did not approve of the Government was a traitor to his country, the Government embarked on a campaign of intimidation ... in the vain hope that news of what was going on could be kept from the outside world."

Worse Than Italy. ". . . Things have happened in Buenos Aires recently that exceed anything that this correspondent can remember in his 17 years' experience in Fascist Italy. He has seen whole sections of the city occupied by the Army in full war kit; he has seen policemen directing traffic with revolvers in their hands.

"He knows that at least one innocent man was machine-gunned while entering a subway station. He knows also that reputable citizens . . . have been arrested . . . spirited away [or forced] to choose between exile and imprisonment. [There have been] hundreds of ... cases. . . . All jails in the country are full to overflowing."

Violation of Faith. ". . . The above activities of the Argentine Government . . . are direct violations of the commitments that Argentina assumed when she signed the final acts of the Mexico City conference. She undertook to ... permit free access to news ... to support democracy and foster justice and freedom.

"The stipulations . . . cannot be considered . . . fulfilled until ... the Argentine people have received the opportunity to elect a government of their choice. Until this has been done it may be expected that relations between the United States and Argentina will never be cordial, however correct they may be."

Though his blast hit official Buenos Aires like a blockbuster, Correspondent Cortesi, when last heard from, was still at large. Only one mention of the story was made in the terrorized Argentine press, but the underground newspapers could be trusted to pass the word along.

Cortesi's expose, and the furore it caused in diplomatic circles all the way to the San Francisco Conference, were a shot in the arm for the thousands of exiles across the La Plata River in Montevideo. They had long waited for the world to wake up to what was going on in Argentina. Their hopes soared.

But the Government of President Edelmiro Farrell and Vice President Juan Domingo Peron still controlled the powerful Army and the Gestapo-like Federal Police, trained by Buenos Aires Police Chief Filomeno Velazco, an expert in torture. If it chose to defy both popular hatred and world displeasure, it might hold out indefinitely.

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