ARGENTINA: Up to Da+e

President Juan Peron last week took steps calculated to transform his clumsy authoritarian government into an up-to-date dictatorship. With laws rammed through the closing session of Congress (43 were passed in five hours), the President did away with 1) free political discussion of himself, his wife or his regime, and 2) any future election threat to his rule.

In the past two years the regime has increasingly used such totalitarian practices as police torture and terrorization of the independent press. Dissident officeholders have been purged. Such opposition leaders as Radicals Ernesto Sammartino and Agustin Rodriguez Araya have been forced into exile (TIME, Oct. 6, 1947 et seq.).

Most dramatic of the new steps was a sharpening of the statute on Desacato, disrespect for established authority. The old law made it illegal to offend the office of President, Vice President or federal justice. The new amendment provides punishments up to three years’ imprisonment for offending the personal “dignity or decorum” of a public functionary.

Even more serious was the new law “to regulate political activities.” By its terms, sponsors of a new party (the old opposition parties are already discredited) must register, then wait three years for recognition—or well past the 1952 presidential elections. Even then a court can refuse to approve the party if the judge (a Peronista, of course) decides that it endangers “social peace” or incites to violence.

To underline his intentions, Peron last week made a direct attack on Radical Leader Ricardo Balbin. Balbin, who had made a speech in which he called Peron a dictator, was accused of having violated the Desacato law. Peron sent word to Congress that he should be deprived of his parliamentary immunity so that he could be tried by a federal judge.

When the Peronista majority did as it was told, the 40 radical deputies in the 188-member Congress staged an unprecedented scene. One Radical took copies of Peron’s new constitution, tore them to bits and threw them in the air. Another smashed a cup and saucer, skimmed the pieces at Chamber President Hector Cam-pora. Still others threw books, pens and pencils at their Peronista colleagues, meanwhile shouting oaths and obscenities. Balbin meanwhile had made a farewell speech and announced that he would present himself before a judge for trial.

As the minute hand neared midnight on the last day of Congress’ session, Peronista deputies sang the Argentine national hymn and then boisterously burst into Peronista Boys. Said one Radical deputy as he surveyed the week’s work: “I move that the Argentine flag be flown at half-mast.”