El Circulo Militar, the Argentine Army officers’ club in B.A., is stiff and dignified enough to be mistaken for the Foreign Office on the other side of the Plaza San Martin. At the Circulo last week, some 1,200 wives & daughters of Army officers gathered to honor Eva Duarte de Perón. But they did not don furs & feathers out of love for la Señora. This was a command performance arranged by Doña Ines Serpa de Sosa Molina, wife of Peron’s Minister of War, to make up for snubs that Señora Peron has received from the stiff-necked military clique. Evita was pleased.
Two Strings. Evita was only one issue between Perón and the Army. It would not be so easy to clear up the other: Perón’s economic policies. Unlike other military Presidents in Argentine history, Perón has two strings to his bow.
The Army put him in power originally; once in power, Perón fashioned his second string. He wooed the Argentine workers, granted them raises in pay, promised social laws. This new force was enough to return him to power when the Army forced him out in October 1945, enough to win him the election in February 1946.
Perón may soon be forced to choose between his bowstrings. The Army blame his labor laws and his inflationary wage increases for the country’s deteriorating economy; but if he tries to withdraw the favors granted, he runs the risk of losing labor support. If he does nothing, and the economy worsens, his split with the Army will widen. Perón, conscious of this danger, has harped on the theme of “nefarious forces” attempting to sabotage his regime. Government newspapers have recalled that 1,500,000 died in the Mexican revolution. Evita, echoing the ominous note, said last week: “If I have to fall I will fall in front of my descamisados and at the side of General Perón.”
One Solution. Peron, who has no intention of falling anywhere, might plump for a tried-&-true Argentine solution: declaration of a state of siege or nationwide martial law. That way he could silence the opposition, give the Army, which has not fought a war in 75 years, a sense of directing public affairs.
At week’s end porteños looked toward the sprawling Army headquarters at Campo de Mayo outside the city, where many violent political changes in Argentina have begun & ended, told each other: “There’s a smell of gunpowder at the Campo.”
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