The Crack-Up

Argentines rid themselves of their military dictator last week. But they were not rid of the military.

Out of the turbulence of toppling cabinets, armed revolt and panic which rocked Buenos Aires and the Argentine nation, three facts emerged: 1) Colonel Juan Domingo Peron was out cold; 2) General Eduardo Avalos, new Minister of War, held the sword-hand; 3) democratic Argentines, united in a common front, were in no mood to accept anything less than the full restoration of constitutional government.

A clique of colonels had sprung Peron into power in 1943. Last week it was Argentina's younger officers, the lieutenants, captains and majors, who had told potent General Avalos that the country was threatened with civil war and the Army with destruction as long as Peron dominated the Government. They demanded a showdown. Avalos agreed. Because Avalos controlled Campo de Mayo (one-third to one-half the Army's effectives), Peron had no choice but to resign as Vice President, Minister of War and Secretary of Labor.

An incidental beneficiary was the management of Buenos Aires' powerful "Radio Belgrano." For two long years the station had put up with Peron's mistress, Eva Duarte, a third-rate actress who had demanded top-flight treatment. Soon after the good news came over the wire, Manager Juan Cossio got Eva on the telephone: "You needn't come to work tonight."

Eva: "What about my company?"

Cossio: "Neither you nor your company are wanted in Radio Belgrano tonight or any other night. Goodbye."

Peron's Last Stand. The cheers were short-lived. Efficient, cruel Police Chief Filomeno Velazco was out, but his tactics remained. The press was still gagged. Citizen Peron took to the air, intimated that he might run for the Presidency in the April 7 elections, just announced by President Edelmiro Farrell. Peron also told Argentine workers, whose salaries he had raised before leaving office, that he would fight for social reform, that the day might come "when I will ask for war."

Senor Peron's appeals to the labor unionists had no notable effects. But the Army was worried. Again the young officers forced action on General Avalos.

Peron's arrest was ordered. In a second-rate hotel near the Plata estuary, where he was hiding with exactress Duarte and $50,000 in cash, the late master of 14,000,000 Argentines meekly surrendered. Twenty-four hours later, Peron was duly packed aboard a small naval vessel, shipped off to Martin Garcia concentration camp. There he joined the company of political prisoners whom he had locked up.

Action in the Plaza. Before the magnificent grey stone mansion that is Buenos Aires' Military Club, a throng of some 50,000 anxious citizens filled fashionable Plaza San Martin. Inside, the fate of the nation was being resolved by the military and a few civilians. Hopefully, the crowd outside applauded when such moderates as ex-Foreign Minister General Orlando Peluffo and Navy Minister Hector Vernengo Lima marched in.

When an officer appeared on a balcony and announced the fall of the Farrell cabinet, the crowd cheered. But its temper tautened when it became clear that Argentine liberties were still unrestored. The Army, having saved itself from Peron, now had to save itself from the people.

Shooting began. Pistol shots popped back & forth between the crowd and officers in the club. A machine gun sputtered. Forty mounted policemen swung their sabers, plunged their horses through the crowd. The crowd became a mob, scattering through the city's streets, sniping at police from darkened doorways. By midnight, a prominent physician had been killed, 35 others had been injured.

The next day Buenos Aires was an occupied city. In groups, the mounted police clattered over the pavements, Mauser rifles slung over their shoulders. Truckloads of carabineers rolled through tense, empty streets. In the Plaza San Martin, sentries stood by the statue of Liberator Jose de San Martin.

The worried Army, pressed also by naval officers in expedient collaboration with the civilian rebels, made a few liberalizing concessions. But the militarists had an aroused jaguar by the tail. To let go at once might mean being devoured completely.

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