Double Crisis

President Pedro Aramburu. who took power by force but refuses to be a dictator, coaxed and head-knocked his Cabinet past a double crisis last week, and sailed ahead with his plan to hold democratic elections for a successor.

The election date itself kicked up the hottest squabble; it was too soon for some, too late for others. Aramburu announced that an Assembly will be chosen July 28 to write a new constitution. Then next Feb. 23, voters will go to the polls and select a new President.

One Cabinet faction, alarmed at the open wooing of Peronistas by some politicos, thought the dates were dangerously soon. Another and more vocal faction felt that the presidential balloting should take place this fall, as Aramburu had implied earlier. Air Minister Julio Krause, leader of the second group, gathered his top officers around him and issued a communique declaring that the air force could no longer take responsibility for the government's actions. To a regime held together only by armed services unity, this was real trouble, and Aramburu acted quickly. He fired Krause. and the other officers were persuaded to retract the communique.

Earlier in the week Aramburu stilled another feud by replacing Finance Minister Roberto Verrier, who had forecast huge trade and budget deficits and had urged stern austerity (TIME. April 1). To salvage at least part of Verrier's plan, Aramburu chose ex-Banker Adalberto Krieger Vasena. 37, who promptly vowed to work toward austerity but "with adaptations imposed by the course of events."

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