Army Shakeup

The Argentine army has 48 active generals, and with a few exceptions they regard the nation's politics and policies as wide open to comment, advice and meddling. Last week President Pedro Aramburu, who (though he is a general himself) believes that the army's functions should be confined to national defense, sacked at least 12 meddlesome generals, including the army commander, and appeared ready to dismiss even more.

Disaffection among high army officers has plagued Aramburu ever since he came to power a year ago. Most ominously, a segment of ultranationalistic top officers, scoffing at Aramburu's ban on military candidacies, has been cheering on a dissident, unassigned general named LeÓn Bengoa as a prospect for presidential elections late next year. The mass firings gave this group a brief surge of hope: Bengoa and some cronies quickly tried to touch off an army uprising.

But if the Argentine army is split, the navy is not. Aramburu hastily deployed 16 warships in the River Plate off Buenos Aires and La Plata. Insurrectionary fervor cooled off fast. At week's end Bengoa was under arrest, and the government announced, reassuringly, that the shakeup would not be made a pretext for postponing elections.