Argentina: Ghost from the Past

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The complaints were always loudest when Presidential Adviser Frigerio was involved. It was he who drew up Frondizi's plan for "reintegration" of Per&243;nistas into Argentine national life. To the military, Frigerio was a Per&243;nista in democrat's clothing. In April 1959, in an unofficial status, Frigerio flew to the U.S. and returned boasting of loan pledges he had obtained. Just the same, War Secretary General Hector Solanas Pacheco warned Frondizi that the troops were "dangerously restless" over Frigerio.

Frondizi seemed to take the hint: Frigerio disappeared from the presidential secretariat, though Frondizi continued to see him. Frigerio became the center of more trouble, when Per&243;n, in exile, accused Frondizi of welshing on a signed deal, arranged by the adviser, promising legality for the Per&243;nista Party. In a preelection "fireside chat" a few weeks ago, Frondizi compared Frigerio's role to that of Harry Hopkins in Franklin D. Roosevelt's Administration. Frigerio was preADVISER FRIGERIO The Brass said, "Out." sumably behind some of the odd Frondizi gyrations in foreign policy—including the invitation to Cuba's Che Guevara, and Argentina's reluctance to condemn Castro at the recent Punta del Este conference.

That led to another of the frequent Frondizi clashes with the military; he survived by agreeing to break diplomatic relations with Castro's Cuba (Frigerio was one of the casualties of last week's crisis: Frondizi agreed to send him abroad).

As his tightrope act continued to work, Frondizi got more confidence in himself and in his ability to survive any hazards.

He became more and more determined to let the Per&243;nistas compete in the congressional elections. So long as the Per&243;nistas were kept outside normal political activity, he argued, they formed a dangerous, unassimilated mass that might one day turn toward Communism. Allowed to run, they might win a few seats in Congress. Politicians in both political parties assured the military men that Per&243;nista voting strength was dispersed.

Hearing the good news, Per&243;n summoned to Madrid one of his most powerful lieutenants: Andres Framini, 47, boss of the 146,000-member textile workers' union, who was jailed on general charges of Per&243;nista activities after Per&243;n fell.

When Framini returned home, he filed as a candidate for the governorship of Buenos Aires province, a job second in power only to that of the President. Fra-mini's candidate for vice governor: Per&243;n himself. But when Framini proposed the ticket in Buenos Aires, it was rejected on grounds that no person wanted for a common crime could run for public office—and Per&243;n is still wanted for, among other things, statutory rape of his teen-aged girl friend, Nelly Rivas.

Che's Red Mom. Per&243;n ordered his supporters in Argentina to cast blank ballots again, then agreed to let candidates run. In the confusion, the Per&243;nista campaign got off to a slow start. Frondizi's party won by-elections in five provinces.