Tarnished Image

Juan Peron, home in Buenos Aires after 17 years in exile, was playing the game of elder statesman to the hilt. For a time last week it appeared that he had convinced many of Argentina's major political parties to join with him in forging an unbeatable coalition for the general elections next March. But the coalition came apart almost as quickly as it had been formed, and there were rumblings of even more difficult times to come for el Lider. As one diplomatic observer put it: "Peron thought he could absorb Argentina; instead, Argentina has absorbed Peron."

While Peron was plotting political stratagems at his lavish Buenos Aires residence, more than 1,000 of his supporters were roaming the streets last week in defiance of a government ban on demonstrations. They gathered in an impoverished town with the unlikely name of William Morris* to lay a wreath near the spot where two Peronist guerrillas were killed by police two years ago. Police attempts to break up the demonstration touched off a five-hour battle. One Peronist youth was killed by a tear-gas canister fired at pointblank range, and the melee was broken up only when army units moved in. Juan Abal Medina, a leader of Peron's Justicialist Party whose brother had been killed in the 1970 Shootout, threatened more confrontations. "If the armed forces continue with their campaign of violence," he said, "they will lead Peronist youth to war."

Alejandro Lanusse, Argentina's military strongman, who had been doing his best to ignore Peron, is now close to war with el Lider's rambunctious followers. Speaking to reporters in the city of Bahia Blanca last week, Lanusse denied that a Peronist youth leader had been jailed in the rioting, but he made it clear that he thought the young man should have been locked up. "Patience has a limit," he warned. "At any moment we can show that we do not carry weapons as ornaments." As for Peron: "That gentleman can do or try to do anything he wishes, except become President of the republic in the future."

Though his statesmanlike image was tarnished by the riots, Peron has kept his silence, saying only that "the important thing is to get into power, no matter whether it is with Juan or Pedro [meaning anyone]." But getting Juan, or whomever he names as successor, into power may now be more difficult than ever. Lanusse has refused to change his Aug. 25 residency deadline for presidential candidates. Moreover, a little-noticed clause in the government's declaration--stipulating that a presidential candidate must not have been out of the country for more than 15 days between Aug. 25 and the March elections--will rule out some top Peronist candidates. Many of them spent at least a month outside Argentina this year, conferring with Peron while he was in exile in Madrid.

A more serious problem for Peron is a fractioning within the Peronist movement itself. Two weeks ago two delegates were killed in a convention-floor gunfight during a Peronist meeting held in Santa Fe.

Peron may have decided not to run now anyway. At week's end he was preparing to fly off to several Latin American countries and Spain, where he plans to spend Christmas. He will return to Argentina, promised Top Aide Hector Campora, "well before elections, if there are any." But he will be out of the country during the most critical days of negotiations, which will lead to the mandatory final announcement of presidential candidates on Dec. 21.

* Named for an English clergyman and educator who opened schools across Argentina in the early 1900s.

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