Evening star., 1943-10-16
Crisis in Argentina

SS ''' " S"t'sA
President Roosevelts sharp rebuke
to the Argentine Government for its
action suspending publication of
Jewish newspapers in that country
dramatically focuses attention on the
growing crisis in Argentina.
The perturbation in the national
life OF our southern neighbor is more
than political and economic; it is
social and even spiritual as we'll. It
involves such basic factors as the
contrast between the sophisticated
metropolis of Buenos Aires and a
rural hinterland dominated by an
estate-owning aristocracy; between
sharply differentiated upper. middle,
rural and urban working classes; be-
tween a touchy. ambitious national
ism and an economic dependence on
world markets for vital exports.
All this forms the background for
what is happening in Argentina to-
day. But the picture is blurred to
the outside world by the rigid CEN
sorship imposed by the authorities,
which not only restricts news dis
patches abroad but throttles COM
ment at home even as between in
dividuals by word of mouth. The
military regime set up by the Army
in its successful coup d'etat which
ousted the Castillo government has
functioned more authoritatively than
its conservative predecessor. The
numerically strong liberal and radi-
cal elements centering in Buenos
Aires have been suppressed and the
Congress has virtually ceased to
function. This dictatorial repression
has thus far maintained a superficial
calm, but beneath the surface there
seethes an intense inner emotion,
which each political development
brings closer to the boiling point.
The current crisis was precipitated
by Secretary of State Hull's rejection
of the then Foreign Minister Sc
gundo Storms suggestion of Ameri-
can lease-lend aid for Argentina.
Mr.. Hulls strongly worded refusal,
based on Argentina's isolationist
neutrality and maintenance of Axis
ties, had twofold effect It inten-
sifled the domestic opposition to that
policy and it hardened nationalistic
determination to persist in it for
patriotic reasons.
This intensified cleavage is re-
f1ected in the recent cabinet break,
wherein three members resigned.
That trio are known to be those in
favor of a modification of foreign
policy leading to rupture of rela-
tions with the Axis and an accom-
modation with the United States and
the United Nations. The inference is
that the remaining Ministers intend
to persist in isolationist neutrality.
This logically includes President
Ramirez, who, coincident with the
cabinet shake-up, announced over
the radio that "the honor of the ma
ton rests in the exercise of SOW
ereignty." In normal times that
would have been platitude. Today,
however, the invocation of such pa
triotic slogans as sovereignty and
national honor can mean only a re-
affirmation of an isolationist foreign
policy; because the whole ultra
nationalist propaganda is based on
the argument that the United States,
Britain and other members of the
United Nations are assailing Argen-
tina's sovereignty and affronting its
national honor by trying to coerce it
into breaking relations with the
Axis. This tends to raise the issue
from one of political expediency and
economic self-interest to the high
plane of national principle and pa
triotic duty.
The inherent dangers of such ar
guments are obvious. The opposition
is naturally embittered and infuri-
ated by official attempts to gain a
monopoly of patriotism and to brand
dissent as antinational. The re-
sultant inflamed clash of ideologies,
superimposed on differences of ma
terial interest and social outlook,
might easily result in revolutionary
situation. Argentina's outlook is
indeed stormy one.