Goodbye, Per

Last week Argentina's ex-dictator Juan Peron, 77, was heading back to Madrid at the close of a "vacation" trip that had taken him to five countries, including--of all places--Rumania. Actually, since he left Buenos Aires before Christmas--voluntarily this time --he has been doing more politicking than vacationing. Stopping in Rome before his flight to Rumania, he described members of the military junta of Argentine Strongman Alejandro Lanusse as "beasts." The junta promptly responded by barring Peron from Argentina until a civilian government is reestablished. He had planned to campaign this month for his hand-picked candidates in the March general elections.

More irksome to Lanusse than Peron's insults was a campaign slogan --"Campora in government, Peron in power"--being used by supporters of Hector Campora, the Peronista candidate for President. The government argued that the slogan violated the constitution, which states that the people do not govern except through elected representatives. On that ground, the junta filed suit in the National Electoral Court demanding that Peron's Justicialist Liberation Front, which had been given a good chance to win the election, be dissolved. If that happens, Peron will be left without a legal means of regaining power in Argentina.

The situation, however, worries all other political parties; they fear a repetition of the last presidential election in 1963. At that time, Peron's supporters, threatened with annulment of their ballots, voted blanks, thereby allowing Arturo Illia to win the presidency with 27% of the vote. The bickering that followed led to the takeover by the military, which has ruled ever since.

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