The Death of el Lider

Offices and banks shut down, most buses and trains stopped running, many food stores, closed. Except for the vigil by mourners, Buenos Aires last week came to a standstill in grieving for Juan Domingo Peron. His death at 78 from severe influenza followed by cardiac arrest plunged the nation into sorrow and anxiety over the future of Argentina without Peron.

Hundreds of thousands of mourners lined up eight abreast for miles in a warm winter rain outside the Congress Hall where the body of el Lider (see following story) lay in state in the Blue Chamber. They waited for up to 24 hours for a glimpse of his body clad in army uniform, medals and sash of office. Many fainted from emotion or exhaustion. Government aid stations treated no fewer than 17,800 people as the original one day of viewing was extended to two because of the miles-long crowd.

The funeral procession moved from the President's house at Olivos outside Buenos Aires to the city's cathedral and then to the Congress. Atop Peron's casket, which was wrapped in Argentina's blue and white flag, were his general's cap and saber. Men and women lining the five-mile route burst into tears. Some tossed flowers at the coffin; others simply waved their handkerchiefs. There were plaintive cries of "Adios, mi general" and "Chau, viejo," meaning, affectionately, "Goodbye, old man."

There was also the repeated chant "Peron esta presente," a rephrasing of the old cry that arose 22 years ago, after the death of Evita, Peron's popular second wife, when devoted Peronists insisted that she was still with them.

Evita's successor as the President's wife, Isabel, 43 (see box page 75), acted as principal mourner--and as Vice President, she succeeded Peron in office. Isabelita had been in Europe on an official tour when Peron was taken ill. She flew home hurriedly after receiving reports of his declining health. In a weekend address to the nation, she announced that until he recovered she was temporarily assuming his duties as "Chief Magistrate of the nation." Two days later, Isabelita returned to television and radio to inform the nation that "a real apostle of peace and union has died."

Array of Problems. Peron himself had ordained Isabella's succession last fall when he chose her to run for Vice President and together they received 62% of the vote. There were doubts even then about her ability to lead the troubled country if he died in office. Many macho Argentines rejected the idea of a Presidenta. There was also dissatisfaction with her dance-hall background and limited education. "Personally, I am ashamed," said one retired general.

"Not because she is a woman, although as an Argentine I do think Presidents should be men--but because she has no education." Even some who accepted Isabelita as Juan Peron's heir and who applauded the dignity with which she faced a difficult period last week questioned her ability to stand up to the bewildering array of problems facing Argentina.

Not least among them is the future of the heterogeneous Peronist movement. It was the man and his grandiose style that kept Peronism together. After his return to Buenos Aires last June, ending 18 years of exile, even Peron had difficulty enforcing peace and unity among his disparate followers. On the one side was a powerful conservative bloc made up of unionists, military men, landowners and businessmen. A new group of younger Peronists--mainly students, intellectuals and young professionals--appeared on the radical left.

The two sides increasingly moved from enmity to open warfare. In the past year alone there were at least 100 political assassinations.

Toward the end, Peron sided more and more with the right. In a recent speech, he dismissed the young leftists as "jerks." Inevitably, the feuding factions will threaten Isabella's power.

One person already suspected of trying to become the power behind the throne is Minister of Social Welfare Jose Lopez Rega, 54, who was Peron's private secretary and astrologer in exile. Lopez Rega stood prominently behind Isabelita each time she addressed the nation on television last week, and except for her, he was the only Cabinet member to make a TV speech after Peron's death. Radical leftist Peronists despise the ultra-conservative Lopez Rega and have threatened to assassinate him. Last week, in a warning aimed at him, the leader of the radical leftist Montoneros (bush fighters), Mario Firmenich, condemned "adventurists and unscrupulous persons" who might make plans to take power in "the political vacuum left by General Peron's absence."

If the problems and intrigues become too intense, Isabelita Peron may exercise her constitutional privilege of stepping down. In that case, Senate President Jose Antonio Allende (a member of the Popular Christian Party and no kin to Chile's Salvador Allende) would become interim President of the republic until new elections were held. In the first days following Peron's funeral, Isabelita showed no signs of wanting to exercise her constitutional option. The idea of being Latin America's first Presidenta was obviously a powerful pull. Still undecided, however, was whether she would be astute enough to withstand the divisive forces known as Peronism.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.