Again, One-Man Rule

In order to consolidate his hold on the country, Argentine President Juan Carlos Ongania two weeks ago fired his army, navy and air force chiefs in a single, deft purge. The move rid General Ongania of a significant liberal military opposition and gave him near-absolute power for the first time in his 26 months in office. The officers he sacked were Lieut. General Julio Alsogaray, Admiral Benigno Varela, commander of naval operations, and Brigadier General Adolfo Alvarez, air force commander in chief.

The most important among them was Army Commander in Chief Alsogaray, the man Ongania was really after. It was he who had helped engineer the coup in 1966 that removed President Arturo Illia from office and installed Ongania in Buenos Aires' Casa Rosada. The liberal-minded lieutenant general, often acting in concert with his brother Alvaro, Argentina's Ambassador to the U.S., had taken a major role in shaping the military government's "Argentine revolution." That program promised economic reform to bolster the country's flagging economy. But Alsogaray favored a more democratic political base for the revolution, while the stiff-necked President favored a tightly controlled corporate state and resisted all politically broadening efforts. The difference brought the two increasingly into public conflict.

Ongania's victory over his rival may prove Pyrrhic. Though two of the ousted service chiefs are to be given attractive ambassadorships, Alsogaray plans to stay in Argentina. His brother Alvaro resigned his post in Washington and is returning home. If they can attract enough supporters to contest Ongania's dominance of the government, together they hope to find a way to head Argentina back along the road to democracy.

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