ARGENTINA: Man on a Motorcycle

When 2,000 happy motorcyclists roared through the streets of Buenos Aires one day last week to honor "Argentina's No. 1 Motorcyclist," the parade was led by none other than the No. 1 motorcyclist himself. At the Casa Rosada (Pink House, Argentina's White House), President Juan Perón, decked out in a broad smile and a jockey cap, dismounted from his Italian-made Gilera to take the riders' salutes.

Last week's procession, which took half an hour to pass the reviewing stand, was a relatively modest tribute to Argentina's strong man. Among the extravagant titles Perón's followers bestow on him is "World's No. 1 Sportsman"—which in sports-worshiping Argentina is rather more eulogistic than calling him, say, "World's No. 1 Statesman." In his younger days Perón was a boxer, skier, crack shot, swordsman, horseman, speedboater and racing-car driver. But in recent years motorcycling has become the aging (59) No. 1 sportsman's No. 1 sport. He often takes a spin on the grounds of his suburban estate or his downtown presidential residence, and now and then he rides through the city streets, accompanied by two or three police cars.

Some of Perón's countrymen see a method in the President's motorcycle madness. His enthusiasm boosts demand for motorcycles (which the government manufactures) and eases the hunger for U.S. automobiles (which the government keeps out with import fences in order to save scarce dollars). But whatever such practical motives Perón may have, the main reason for his addiction to motorcycling appears to be simply that he gets a huge kick out of the sport.

Counterattack Strongman Juan Perón signed into law last week a bill making divorce legal in Argentina for the first time in the nation's history. The next day, the official Vatican newspaper, Osservatore Romano, printed its first denunciation of Perón & Co.'s running feud with the Roman Catholic Church (TIME, Nov. 1 et seq.). In its front-page attack, the paper charged that by arresting priests the Perón regime had violated freedom of religion, and that by legalizing divorce it had subverted "the morals of the faithful."