Word: ongania
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When he succeeded in a military coup last June, General Juan Carlos Ongania's prize was a government with a budget deficit of about $800 million. He won possession of a national oil company so overburdened with incompetent politicians that Argentina was importing the fuel for the first time in a decade. He was boss of government-owned railroads with so much obsolete equipment and featherbedding that they were costing taxpayers $1,000,000 a day. Also in the package was a seaport complex that had been idled by strikes for a total of 85 days the year before...
Trimming Fat. Last week President Ongania was acting more like an armor-plated hare than a tortoise. To encourage exports so that the country could pay a $700 million foreign debt, the new President devalued the peso by 16% to about 250 for a U.S. dollar. In a nationwide speech, he advised that "the style today will be to export everything possible and to consume what's left." He even began negotiations with private companies to renew the oil contracts that the previous administration had canceled...
Dealing with labor was another matter. When Ongania reduced the number of holidays and trimmed other fat enjoyed by longshoremen, some 8,000 union members in Buenos Aires went on strike. Ongania sent troops to protect those who wanted to work; soon loading operations were back to normal. Surprisingly, the largest union association, the Confederation General del Trahajo, chose not to defend the dock workers. When the C.G.T.'s new executive committee conferred with Ongania this month, he was in no mood to temporize. "I would like to be popular," he said. "Instead, we have a lot of sacrifices...
...toughs invaded the British consulate at Rosario and burned a portrait of Queen Victoria. In Buenos Aires, eight shots were fired at the shuttered windows of the British embassy, where Prince Philip had just arrived for a three-week goodwill visit. To calm the uproar, President Juan Carlos Ongania issued an announcement declaring that while the islands were the rightful property of Argentina, the government would stand for no violence to enforce its claims...
Last week Sylvia died, and curious crowds pushed and shoved as a saddened Illia walked slowly through the streets behind his wife's casket. At the church, and later at the cemetery, the unruly throng tried to turn the sad occasion into an anti-Ongania demonstration by shouting, "Death to dictatorship!" and "The military trash cannot govern us!" Dazed and tearful, Illia ignored the shouts. After the ceremony, he retreated once more to his brother's home. His plans: to sell some of the gifts he received while President and with the money, plus contributions from friends, rent...