Changing of the Guard

The chaos that has been Argentina's lot ever since the ouster of President Arturo Frondizi six months ago was compounded last week by an ugly civil war among the country's ruling military brass. Argentine artillery fired on Argentine tanks; Argentine air force planes strafed Argentine infantrymen. Bewildered civilians wandered through Buenos Aires' streets, sunny in the . South American spring, holding transistor radios to their ears and trying to figure out what they were fighting about.

On one side were army officers who called themselves "Democrats." Occupying nearly all the top military positions in the government, the Democrats had one principal characteristic: undying hatred of ex-Dictator Juan Peron and the outlawed, 3,000,000-man Peronista political organization. Their name derives from the form of government they propose--"democratic dictatorship," or direct military rule for a minimum of five years.

On the other side stood the "Legalists," led by officers in command of the big Campo de Mayo army base outside Buenos Aires. A few are Nasser-style nationalists; others are former Peronista officers. Most of them call for early elections to choose a new Congress and a constitutional President, argue that the Peronistas should be returned at least some of their political rights. But their main point of unity last week was jealousy of the in-status of the Democrat wing of the army, and anger over the fact that they were being dismissed from key commands. When their protests to the War Ministry were met with new dismissals, the Legalists mobilized.

The man in the middle, President Jose Maria Guido, the ineffectual puppet installed after .Frondizi, pleaded for a truce. But the military rivals were beyond pacifying. As the shooting started, Guido, who at one point appeared to support the incumbent Democrats, now threw in his lot with the rebellious Legalists. It proved wise. After a series of sharp battles, the Democrats were driven from Buenos Aires. The victorious Legalists proclaimed themselves in charge and called for elections to return to constitutional rule.

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