A Clank of Brass

In the six weeks since the followers of ex-Dictator Juan D. Peron scored a surprise victory in national elections, Argentina has been a land living under military rule, preserving only the flimsiest fac,ade of democracy. Arturo Frondizi, the deposed constitutional President who gave Peron's still-faithful descamisados (shirtless ones) a place on the ballot, still waits on his prison island in the Rio de la Plata. In the Buenos Aires Presidential Palace sits a puppet President, Jose Maria Guido, a minor politician who must wait, too--wait for the military men, who fear Peron, to decide what to do. Last week the generals made up their minds, and the result was a further flight of democracy from Argentina,

From the palace came a burst of "executive decrees" effectively reaffirming the military dictatorship. The recent Peronista-victory elections were annulled as if they had never taken place. Congress was dissolved, and the civilian governors of all Argentine provinces not already removed were ousted in favor of military commanders. Argentina would now be governed by presidential decree and ruled by military men not elected to office. As a sop, the military promised new elections for Oct. 27, 1963. But those elected would not take office until May 1, 1964, thus assuring two full years of unquestioned rule by the military.

So blatant was the military's total assumption of power that even some generals were uneasy, and for a time it looked as if there might be a shooting match among them. War Secretary Enrique Rauch wanted to go slowly and seek a democratic means of moving against the Peronistas. But General Raul Poggi, the tough-minded army commander in chief, who led the initial coup in March against Frondizi, insisted on a complete military takeover. Tempers flared, and Rauch phoned the Presidential Palace to say: "I'm going to throw him out with bullets." Poggi barricaded himself in the War Secretariat building, posting machine gunners at the windows and emplacing bazooka teams in the flower beds outside. Rauch called up his tanks, and the two sides rumbled ominously. After 24 tense hours, an uneasy truce was made. Both generals resigned their posts; then the Argentine navy sided with Poggi's hard-line faction to swing the balance of power. There could be little question who had won: Poggi, the hardliner.

Through it all, as they had before, Argentines apathetically went on about their own affairs. The Peronistas, who had loudly proclaimed their intent to fight if the elections were annulled, remained off the streets and out of the gun sights. The public might be quiet, but hardly content.

Food prices shot up another 25% last week. Private firms suspended all debt payments and most deliveries of goods.

The government's tax collections were close to zero, and the state no longer paid its employees--except the soldiers.

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