ARGENTINA: Peace Plebiscites

In Argentina’s pro-Government press, ranging from pontifical La Nación to the Naziphile Pampero, there burgeoned last week a crop of paid advertisements announcing a “Plebiscite of Peace.” Its 120 founder-signers, among whom patriotic Nacionalistas were sinisterly mingled with notorious Nazionalistas, invited all-&-sundry to sign a monster “Album of Peace” to be ceremoniously presented to shrewd old Vice-President-in-the-Exercise-of-the-Executive-Power Ramón S. Castillo. Doubtless these publicity shenanigans amused that dry-humored politico; but what really pleased him was the more genuine peace plebiscite of recent congressional elections.

Although ballots were still being counted last week in four provinces, and Buenos Aires Province was going to vote again because of earlier irregularities, rough estimates of the election results showed an overwhelming victory for Castillo’s Concordancia (Conservative coalition): 1,150,000 votes against the Radicals’ 580,000, the Socialists’ 180,000. These figures were somewhat fogged by fraud, abstentionism (illegal refusal to vote) and blank ballots, but one fact stood out sharp and paradoxical: the majority of voters’ well-founded hatred of Castillo’s reactionary internal regime had been overcome by their support of his xenophobic foreign policy. It was a peace plebiscite worth many paid advertisements.

Argentina was going quietly about its business of liberating itself from foreign economic and financial influence. Last week it used its blocked sterling credits to redeem the £365,700 balance ($1,473,800) of 5% Transandine Railway bonds, raising the total bonds repatriated from London since Nov. 1, 1941 to the tidy sum of £4,100,000 ($16,523,000). By coolly outbidding the U.S., Argentina bought up the bulk of Ecuadorian rubber to help keep its tire factories running. And at week’s end Madrid announced a new accord with Argentina for: 1) exchange of Spain’s industrial goods, machinery and chemicals against Argentina’s badly needed surplus foodstuffs, to the tune of some $46,610,000; 2) establishment of a joint Spanish-Argentine steamship line; 3) eventual establishment of a South Atlantic airline to replace defunct Lati, bypassing unfriendly Brazil. Buenos Aires confirmed items 1 and 2, raised politely incredulous eyebrows at item 3. Item 3 moved Washington’s eyebrows too, into a worried frown.

It was becoming increasingly evident that astute old Castillo was not going to have anything to do with aquella guerra (that war) if possible. It was becoming equally evident that he had sold isolationism to Argentina.