Presidential Surrender

The dispute in Argentina was between two factions of the army, and the issue last week was the place in Argentine life of the one-fifth of the citizenry who still stick stubbornly to the ideas and person of Juan Peron. Army Commander in Chief General Carlos Toranzo Montero, 57, headed the faction that sees the army's 1955 anti-Peron revolution imperiled by Peronista coddlers in the government. Opposing him. on grounds of preserving military discipline and political neutrality, was War Secretary Elbio Carlos Anaya, 70, a retired cavalry general.

Quickly the lines tightened into President Arturo Frondizi's worst crisis. Tough old Anaya fired General Toranzo, named a new commander in chief, jammed the government palace with loyalist machine-gunners. For his part, General Toranzo took over the twelve-square-block Army Mechanical School in south Buenos Aires, reinstated himself as commander in chief, manned the school with 1,200 soldiers, surrounded it with barricades of municipal busses, five blocks deep. Garrisons in Cordoba, Mar del Plata and elsewhere pledged loyalty to the rebel regime. Argentina suddenly had two army commanders in chief and the prospect of civil war.

At 1:20 one morning last week a screeching motorcade brought President Frondizi to the government palace. The showdown had finally come: Did the President or such ultimatum makers as Toranzo rule Argentina? At 3 a.m., 60 tanks rolled out of the pro-government base at Campo de Mayo, 18 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, with orders to attack the rebel GHQ. At this point, Frondizi stepped in--and caved in. He stopped the tanks 50 blocks from their objective and invited Anaya to resign. Voice broken but spirit unbending, Anaya answered: "I did not ask to be appointed. If you want, you may dismiss me.:'

Emissaries from the President, among them powerful Economics Minister Alvaro Alsogaray and retired General Rodolfo Larcher, rushed to the Mechanical School. At 4:30 a.m., Rebel Chief Toranzo emerged from his barricaded headquarters, went to negotiate with Frondizi. Dealing with each other like two equal powers, the President of Argentina and the general agreed on a 24-hour truce. Frondizi reportedly twice offered to resign in Toranzo's favor, but the general refused. When Toranzo emerged, he said: "I am very satisfied." He had won: Anaya was fired, replaced by General Larcher, a veteran of four years in Peron's jails.

The new Secretary's first act was to reinstate Toranzo as commander in chief. Once more, Frondizi survived by sacrificing position and supporters. Muttered Alsogaray: "A terrible episode."

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