Crisis & Confusion

Argentines are not fools. They are a smart, proud people. Most of them are for the Allies--from a distance. Most of them honestly think that their country can stay neutral and survive. That is one reason why they did not oppose the "prudent neutrality" of ex-President Ramon S. Castillo more than they did, why for a long time they had no serious misgivings about the stubborn neutrality of President Pedro Ramirez. But last week their misgivings were serious. Obviously, their Government was in a crisis; just as obviously, it was in confusion.

To sober Argentines, it seemed that one of two things was about to happen: either the Government of President Pedro Ramirez would break with the Axis soon, or it would be overthrown. This time, unlike the coup which ousted the Castillo Government last June, revolution might be bloody.

The Cause. A small clique of powerful, reactionary men has long suppressed democracy in Argentina. Since 1942, when Argentina adhered to the Pan American solidarity pledge at Rio de Janeiro, the power of this clique has been threatened by one vital issue: the question of continued Argentine relations with the Axis. After the June revolution the clique vested real power in the hands of an Army group which Argentines call "The Colonels." The Colonels have opposed a break; the people, awakening to the danger that Argentina might be isolated in the Americas, have increasingly demanded a break.

The Effect. Led by the nation's greatest newspaper, La Prensa, which no Argentine Government has dared to ban, the press gradually found its voice and published the majority demands. Sentiment against the Government snowballed. By midweek the "state of siege" decree muzzling the press had weakened so far that newspapers could print a Pan American declaration signed by 150 prominent Argentines. Next day the Government dismissed all public officials who had signed.

Nearly every night the police in Buenos Aires were busy breaking up anti-Axis demonstrations. In some provinces the "interventors," who rule by appointment of the Government, were ostracized by the people; the provinces resembled occupied countries rather than free states. Worst of all for the Government, it was being laughed at.

President Ramirez, fronting for the Colonels, had already recalled pro-Allied Ambassador Felipe Espil from Washington (TIME, Oct. 18), other Ambassadors from Mexico City, Vichy and the Vatican. Last week an Army man (War Minister Edelmiro Juan Farrell) was put into the vacant Vice Presidency. The Colonels, fearing a coalition of those who favor a break with the Axis, forced the resignation of three Cabinet Ministers (one of them a leader in the June revolution), saw to it that puppets replaced them. Police closed down all Jewish newspapers, lifted the ban before President Roosevelt had denounced this "obviously antiSemitic" action.

Even the most astute Argentines could not figure out exactly what was happening. Some guessed that President Ramirez, acting on behalf of the Colonels, was preparing to break with Germany and take the credit. Certainly the Colonels and Ramirez had succeeded in alienating almost everyone. An Army group headed by General Arturo Rawson, President in the first days of the June revolution and now Ambassador to Brazil, was gaining in power and advocating a rupture with Germany.

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