ARGENTINA: El Tio in Trouble

Hector Cámpora's first week as Argentina's new civilian President was marred by bloody rioting that left four dead and dozens wounded. Things have gone downhill since then. Despite his well-meaning efforts to chart a moderate direction for his new Peronist government, Cámpora now seems to be on a collision course with the People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), 30,000 Trotskyite terrorists who are responsible for most of Argentina's recent wave of kidnapings and murders.

Cámpora, whom Argentines have nicknamed "el Tío" (Uncle), is largely responsible for the confrontation. He made a fumbling attempt to laud right wing montonero (meaning bushfighter) guerrillas as a sort of Peronist resistance vanguard, calling them "a marvelous youth movement which knew how to meet violence with violence." Thus he managed in his inaugural speech to leave the impression that the terrorist acts of the ERP were justified.

The President's inadvertently provocative speech was broadcast to 250,000 restless young Perónists who had gathered in and around Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo. Cámpora's words led to a paroxysm of rioting and looting, during which outgoing President Alejandro Lanusse was spat upon and Antonio Cardinal Caggiano, the 84-year-old primate of Argentina, was jostled when demonstrators rocked his car.

That night, 40,000 guerrilla sympathizers threatened to storm Buenos Aires' Villa Devoto prison unless all political prisoners were pardoned. Cámpora, who had promised conditional amnesty, caved in. About 500 prisoners in ten jails were released. Among them: Carlos Maguid, a guerrilla who in 1970 kidnaped and murdered former President Pedro Aramburu.

No sooner were the freed prisoners on the streets and vowing to "revenge the revolution" than a rumor spread that more political prisoners were still inside Villa Devoto. With that, the crowd stormed the gates and the guards opened fire, leaving two dead, nine wounded. Their authority compromised, government officials subsequently found themselves in the ludicrous position of having to haggle with all kinds of prisoners, including psychopathic murderers who demanded that they be released from a Buenos Aires asylum.

As the situation deteriorated, Cámpora's guide and mentor, Juan Perón, issued a statement from Madrid rebuking both rightist "gorillas" and leftist "Trotskyites" for the violence. The ERP responded by calling on both Perónists and non-Perónists to "fight steadfastly for the socialist revolution" and accused the new government of "respectfully accepting a subordinate and capitalist system."