Word: strongmanism
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Whether Bolivia's new rulers prove better or worse than the civilians they deposed remains to be seen. Recent military regimes in Latin America have established that they cannot immediately be presumed to be bad. They represent a different breed than the medal-jangling "strongman" epitomized by Argentina's exiled Juan Peron and Venezuela's imprisoned Perez Jimenez. Today's soldiers are deeply disturbed about Castroism, disgusted by graft, inefficiency and thoughtless political warfare. Right or wrong, they claim to have seized power to prevent chaos. In most cases, they seem content to return to constitutional...
...laughed off by most Argentines. Fewer are laughing now. An intelligence evaluation prepared for the Argentine army high command concedes: "The return of Perón does not appear an impossibility." Under pressure from more moderate advisers, Peron has changed his tune, no longer rants about ruling as a strongman, but says rather that his role would be to unite the country's warring factions. The inability of President Arturo Illia's weak-willed regime to cope with the country's deepening economic problems makes many Argentines wish for a more aggressive government...
...Juan Domingo Peron, 69, and his promise to return to Argentina leading another revolution. Last week 17 Peronista leaders were back in Buenos Aires after a five-day conference with El Lider in Madrid. As always, Peron vowed to return. But not as a revolutionary this time. The aging strongman now sees himself as conciliator, who would stay only long enough-possibly two or three months-to help reintegrate the Peronistas peacefully back into the country's mainstream. The amazing thing is that the Argentine government...
Ambitious & Corrupt. The thought of Rojas in power again is chilling to many Colombians. A tough and ambitious military man, he led a successful coup in 1953, soon became the model of the ruthless Latin American strongman-ruling by decree, censoring all newspapers, quashing political opposition. He lavished millions on the army, acquired at least nine ranches and generally proved so corrupt that a military-civilian coup sent him packing into exile in Spain in 1957. A year later when Rojas returned the government stripped him of his decorations and pensions, and barred him from voting or seeking office. Otherwise...
Last week the investigating committee published an interim report disclosing that it had unearthed 400 million tickels ($20 million) in various bank accounts maintained by the late strongman. Even that was peanuts compared with the total value of his nationwide commercial empire, which included a controlling interest-mostly in the names of Sarit's relatives-in at least 15 specially privileged companies. Among them: the only merchant bank allowed to import gold; the only sales agency for the government plywood monopoly; a brewery with a heady share of the government beer monopoly; two companies with concessions to print...