The People Lose Again

The late autumn sun spread a dull sheen over the refuse-strewn waters of the Plata River. Slowly the small, grey minesweeper Drummond nudged against a deserted wharf. Down the gangway stepped a tired, disheveled, stubborn old man, Ramon S. (for nothing) Castillo, Vice President of Argentina from 1938 to 1940, Acting President from 1940 to 1942, President from 1942 until last week, President in Exile for one day, now ex-President.

Abandoned by his friends, deserted by his more powerful ministers, scorned by his people, Ramon Castillo had come to the end of the road called Prudent Neutrality. There was only one course: resign. This Castillo did at the headquarters of the 7th Infantry. He had gained office through accident and stayed in office through fraud. Now he turned over the reigns of government to a military junta which did not seem to know where it was going but at least was aware that prudence in 1943 means cooperation with the United Nations.

Old Story. The military coup which sent Castillo back into obscurity had, in proud Argentina, all the earmarks of a revolt in a banana republic. Early one morning 7,000 troops moved out of the Campo de Mayo barracks to the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Led by General Arturo Rawson and General Pedro Ramirez, who had been Minister of War in Castillo's Cabinet, the troops fired a few shots at the city's outskirts, turned down the Calle Blandengues until they reached the Palermo race track. There newsboys were already hawking editions of Noticias Graficas, which headlined: "REVOLUTION SUCCESSFUL." Fanning out in columns, the troops approached the great Plaza de Mayo, and its government buildings. Here there was a 45-minute machine-gun battle with sailors in front of the School for Navy Mechanics and a brisk skirmish to rout Manuel A. Fresco, notorious pro-Axis nationalist, out of a barricaded building.

At the Casa Rosada, Argentina's White House, police had prepared sandbag barricades and machine-gun positions. To General Domingo Martinez, Buenos Aires Police Chief, President Castillo gave orders to defend the city. But when the troops marched in the police made it clear that they were acting "to maintain order only" --there was no resistance from them. By 10 o'clock, the President had fled his residence for the safety of the Drummond, where he stayed until the excitement was over. By 3 o'clock the machine guns at the Casa Rosada had disappeared; two hours later General Rawson spoke from its balcony to the people, explained the coup as a "defense revolution."

As the city awoke to the tremendous news of Castillo's overthrow, the high hopes of a pro-United Nations middle class and workers' population blazed into action. None knew yet what the coup meant, but many believed that a democratic revolution was at hand. Axis and pro-Axis newspaper buildings were stoned. Extemporaneous speeches were made on street corners and from atop coffee tables. Fourteen busses and streetcars were damaged and leaking gasoline set afire. The cry "Viva la Democracia" echoed through the streets. A checkup found 40 killed.

New Faces. But it was soon apparent that this was no democratic revolution. By 5 o'clock the city had quieted down. General Rawson declared himself President and appointed a Cabinet consisting of eight Army and Navy men and only two civilians. It was only slightly less reactionary and anti-United Nations than Castillo's. Two days later, after dissolving Congress, releasing Fascist Fresco and suppressing the Communist newspaper La Hora, General Rawson resigned. General Ramirez succeeded him.

Argentines who hoped for a more liberal internal policy as well as for closer ties with the Hemisphere were not impressed by either Ramirez or his new Cabinet. All the members were military men. Ramirez was considered a reactionary. The fact that his first act was to announce that the spreading of false reports would be considered treason was taken as a sign that the junta still considered itself in a shaky position. It had no definite political program, no support from the left or from Argentina's conservative middle class. As yet it did not even have the strong backing of the industrialists and rich cattle breeders.

Old Complaints. The fact that the coup occurred on the day that Castillo had expected to nominate wealthy Robustiano Patron Costas, his candidate in Presidential elections scheduled for September, emphasized the great failing in Argentina's brand of democracy: it is impossible to oust an entrenched government by popular ballot, because elections are rigged and unruly provinces can be brought into line by Government-appointed interventors. Argentine voters did not bother Castillo. His threat was from the Army.

Ever since Argentina's mulishness at the Rio de Janeiro conference in January 1942, the Army had seen Argentina's pres tige sink. Brazil and Mexico had taken the leadership in Latin American affairs which Argentina once claimed. The Army had also seen Brazil, and later Chile, receive U.S. Lend-Lease arms which, in worried Army minds, might later be turned against Argentina. Argentina to date has received only one U.S. trainer plane. The defeats of German armies in Russia and Tunisia demonstrated to the Army that Germany is the wrong horse to back in World War II. A feeling of isolation in the Western Hemisphere was succeeded by one of encirclement.

The blow that broke the dam was the report that President Higinio Morinigo of Paraguay had signed a friendship and mutual assistance pact with Brazil. President Morinigo was on his way to the U.S., following President Enrique Pefiaranda, of Argentina's onetime satellite, Bolivia. The signing of the pact was denied, but the Army did not believe the denial. Once before, when a Brazilian-Paraguayan pact was reported, in May, a hurried telephone call interrupted Foreign Minister Ruiz Guinazu as he stood before a mirror in his study practicing a speech. A military voice told Ruiz Guinazu to intervene with Castillo for a change in Argentina's foreign policy. Then the pact was denied. But the Army grew increasingly restless over the country's dangerous isolation. At last an Army-Navy comradeship dinner was planned for July 6, at which Castillo would be given an ultimatum to clean up his Government and abandon his belligerent anti-U.S. attitude. Castillo heard of the plan, ranted, raged. That was a mistake. The Army took over.

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