Deep In the Red

After more than a week at his San Vicente hideaway, Juan Peron returned to Buenos Aires last week to find things no better than when he left.

The strike of Buenos Aires newspaper typographers (TIME, Feb. 21) was no nearer settlement; it threatened, in fact, to spread across the nation. Despite the continued absence of newspapers, most portenos had heard--by word of mouth--all about the army's demand that Juan Peron keep his blonde wife out of public life. Evita was back at her desk in the Secretariat of Labor & Social Welfare. One night she appeared to accept the cheers of a Peronista union members' rally. But for once, she made no speech.

Other problems pressed upon the President. The bottom had dropped out of the Buenos Aires stock market. During the week, persistent selling wiped out as much as 36% of the values of blue-chip stocks. Frantic brokers, encouraged by the government, called a one-day strike in an attempt to stave off the collapse. Next day the market sagged worse than ever.

Two weeks of day & night sessions by Peron's new National Economic Council had done little to stem the nation's tide of red ink. As a last resort, the council decided that Argentina would just have to borrow a lot of dollars. But from whom? With Argentines already owing U.S. businessmen an estimated $400 million, private U.S. banks were unlikely to put up any more. Nor was the World Bank, which Argentina had steadily snubbed, or the U.S. Export-Import Bank.

Peron, no economist, looked on a possible loan with a politician's cold eye. At the Peronista rally, he melodramatically protested that "before signing [such] a document ... I would shoot myself."

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