Argentina: Ghost from the Past

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Frigerio clearly saw that victory would go to whichever Radical faction won the most Perónista votes; he went off to visit Per&243;n. In other elections, the ex-dictator had commanded his supporters to cast blank protest ballots; after Frigerio's visit, he ordered them to vote for Frondizi.

Once in the presidency, Frondizi cast off all pre-election commitments to adopt economic determinism, heart and soul. "I have always dreamed of building a modern, well-developed nation of my country," he said. "No consideration of personal welfare or convenience—no family, political party or friend can stop me." Austere by Comparison. The post-Per&243;n economic problems were immense.

Power, fuel and steel were in short supply. The foreign-trade deficit was running close to $300 million-a year. Tens of thousands of featherbedded employees jammed deficit-ridden state enterprises.

The cost of living had soared; the peso had tumbled in value from 4.2 to the dollar when Per&243;n took over, to 40.

Frondizi's prescription of austerity 'was austere only by comparison with Per&243;nista days. Subsidies were lifted from food, the peso was freed to seek a realistic level, wage increases were tied to productivity.

Two "meatless" days a week, imposed during the declining days of the Perón era, were reimposed—though "meat" in this case meant beef, and Argentines were free to put away as much lamb and mutton as they could hold. But prices did climb (steak went from 8¢ to 19¢ per lb., bread from 2¢ to 4¢ per lb.), and the memory of high living in the days of Per&243;n died hard. Frondizi next outraged the nationalists by allowing foreign private companies to develop Argentine petroleum reserves.. He launched campaigns to denationalize steel and to increase electric power, cut 200,000 functionless functionaries from the government payroll. He set about putting the railways on a paying basis by firing and retiring featherbedders, eliminating useless stretches of track, modernizing equipment.

Argentina achieved self-sufficiency in oil in a startlingly brief three years. Foreign investors found Argentine prospects bright enough to pump in $387.4 million.

But other reforms were only partially successful. The quickening economic pace caused a sharply increased demand for industrial machinery; in the past two years, imports climbed from $990 million a year to $1.45 billion. Agriculture, which accounts for 80% of Argentine exports was still stuck fast in Per&243;nista depression. Argentina finished 1961 with a foreign-trade deficit of $450 million, and foreign currency reserves fell from $750 million last year to $420 million last month.

Classic Pattern. Hoping to win Per&243;nista support for his program, Frondizi pushed through a law designed to give amnesty to Per&243;nistas for all but common crimes, then returned their control of Argentina's powerful labor unions. The reaction of the bitterly anti-Per&243;n military men was instantaneous. What followed became the classic pattern of the Frondizi administration: a military ultimatum, followed by a Frondizi maneuver, a brief truce, and then more military complaints.