A Monopoly of Force

"The guerrillas might still bring off some resounding feats," said retired General Eduardo Jose Catan, "but there is no doubt that they have lost the war." The general, speaking at the vast Campo de Mayo garrison outside Buenos Aires, was more prophetic than he realized. Just a few minutes after he finished talking, the guerrillas brought off the latest of their resounding feats: a time bomb planted in the reviewing stand blew out a yard-wide hole at the exact spot where Argentine President Jorge Rafael Videla had been standing. Because the ceremonies had ended three minutes early, Videla was by then a scant but safe 60 yds. away.

General Catan was probably also correct in his second statement--that the guerrillas have lost the war. Yet after six months of an army regime supposedly dedicated to the restoration of order, Argentina remains prey to repeated attacks of violence--often caused by the security forces themselves.

The fighting has waxed and waned ever since the late 1960s, when guerrillas began fighting to bring back exiled Dictator Juan Domingo Peron. The two main factions: 1) the Montoneros (bush fighters), who originally supported Peron but turned increasingly leftward and broke away after his return to power in 1973; and 2) the smaller ERP (Ejercito Revolucionario del Pueblo, or People's Revolutionary Army), a Cuban-influenced outfit with Trotskyite ties.

Isolated Actions. Both groups staged damaging raids--as did right-wing terrorists--against the inept regime of Peron's widow and successor, Isabel, 45. When Videla led an army coup that deposed Mrs. Peron (she remains under luxurious house arrest in the lake district), he promised that the government would exercise a "monopoly of force." In July the army cornered and killed ERP Leader Mario Santucho and two of his top aides. Last month government forces trapped the national political secretariat of the Montoneros; five of them were shot to death, and four others captured. With their leaders gone, the guerrillas have been forced to shift from large-scale attacks on garrisons to isolated actions like the bombing at Campo de Mayo two weeks ago.

The government's methods of repression, however, seem to be infecting the government itself. Security forces--often operating independently of central control--have not limited themselves to guerrilla fighting but frequently have seized, mistreated, and even killed mere suspects. In the six months of military rule, at least 850 civilians, including five priests, have died violently, and 300 have disappeared. Perhaps three-quarters of the civilian deaths have been caused by government forces. The government argues that guerrilla fighting is "a dirty war," but many Argentines believe that security agents are out of control. Examples:

> American Mennonite Pastor John Delbert Erb and his family opened their apartment door to late-night knocks to find a squad of men with submachine guns confronting them. The intruders tied and blindfolded the Erbs, ransacked their apartment, and then abducted their daughter, Patricia Ann, 19. Although the raiders spray-painted guerrilla slogans on the apartment walls, the Erbs suspected that they were police. A neighbor who came out to see what was happening was ordered away with the explanation that "there is an operation under way." Patricia Ann Erb, who had been barely on the fringe of ERP activities three years ago as a student at the National University in Buenos Aires, finally surfaced unharmed at a suburban police station; last week she was ordered to leave the country.

> After retired Army General Omar Actis was murdered by terrorists two months ago, the bodies of 30 suspected guerrillas were found near the town of Pilar in Buenos Aires province. Residents of the area said they had heard shooting and an explosion in the night. The bodies had all been dynamited, apparently to hamper identification. The government promised "an exhaustive and profound investigation," but nothing has happened so far.

> Former Senator Hipolito Solari Yrigoyen, known for his firm defense of human rights during the Peronist years, was kidnaped from his home in southern Argentina in mid-August. Although Interior Minister General Albano Harguindeguy personally tried to find him, the search took two weeks. Solari was finally pitched out of the back of a truck, together with another legislator who had been kidnaped at the same time. Both men were immediately rearrested by the army.

Increasingly, Argentines are wondering about the extent to which Videla may have authorized the violence. The general, shy and courteous in presidential appearances, enjoyed a reputation for honesty and moderation before becoming army chief, but he may simply be unable to control the multiple layers of agents working on the guerrilla campaign.

The rising level of violence is more and more disturbing to outside observers. Pope Paul, receiving a new Argentine ambassador recently, denounced the murders of priests--apparently by pro-government agents--and the loss of other "valuable lives." In Washington, a congressional subcommittee has begun investigations to determine whether Argentina should be denied U.S. military aid. Subcommittee Chairman Donald Fraser of Minnesota called the wave of killings "shocking."

To counteract such criticisms, the Videla junta has hired a pair of public relations agencies to spread the good news in the U.S. and elsewhere that Argentina's economy is stabilizing and social unrest is at an end.

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