Word: argentina
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...local and temporary. The scene is South America in the '70s, and the situation is even closer to the daily headlines than was the case with The Comedians or The Quiet American. Some hapless Paraguayan guerrillas, stirred by General Stroessner's repressions, cross the border into northern Argentina. They aim to kidnap a visiting American ambassador and hold him against the release of ten political prisoners. But, as one character remarks, "nothing happens as we intend." Acting as his customary farce majeure, Greene has the revolutionaries mistakenly snatch and fruitlessly hold for political ransom poor Charley Fortnum...
Shortly after Evita's death, it became apparent that Perón was spending much more than the government was taking in. In fact, he had been squandering the huge profits that Argentina had accumulated as a neutral supplier of foodstuffs during and after World War II (making it then the richest country in Latin America, with foreign-currency reserves totaling $1.7 billion). The nationalized industries stagnated; inflation soared. Even the workers began to have second thoughts about el Líder as their paychecks purchased less...
...September 1955, all three branches of the armed forces combined to seize control of the floundering country. Auditors later discovered that during Perón's years in power, Argentina's treasury had been drained of $1.25 billion. After bouncing around in exile from Paraguay to Panama to Venezuela to the Dominican Republic, Perón finally settled in Madrid in 1960, where he bought a $500,000 villa that he called "17 de Octubre." There Peron kept in touch with his loyalists in Argentina, goading them to civil strife with taped messages, letters and personal envoys...
Last week, though, Perón shuffled somebody else out of circulation, and this time the move delighted his left wing. Perón told the ubiquitous López Rega, who also triples as Argentina's new Social Welfare Minister, to take a month's vacation from domestic politics and attend a nonaligned nations conference in Algeria. Temporarily at least Lopecito had been effectively removed from what the leftists derisively call Perón's "celestial court." The remaining members: Isabelita and Finance Minister José Gelbard. Of the courtiers, only Gelbard has spent more than...
...real test of whether Perón can restore stability to Argentina will not come until he officially takes over the reins of government. Speculation grew last week that he may yet ascend to the presidency without another election. His succession could be decided by the Peronist-controlled Congress, in which case Isabelita could conceivably be passed over for the vice presidency. Clearly, the new era of Perón has begun with more questions than answers. Yet it is a measure of the country's anguish that uncertainty can be a source of solace. "The only hopeful thing...