ARGENTINA: Blessed Are the Eavesdroppers

"Blessed be the queues," said Juan Perón in a speech six weeks ago. At that time, meat, milk, beer, wine and fuel were scarce as a result of drought and the government's economic mismanagement. The President's idea was to convince Argentines that standing in line would assure them a fairer distribution of goods.

It did not work out that way. With tired, angry shoppers comparing gripes by the hour, the queues became the focus for popular discontent. Last week, before 500 leaders of the Peronista Women's Party, Evita Peròn, looking pale and thin after her operation, took back her husband's blessing on queues and instead pronounced a curse. "Queues," she said, "must be destroyed. We have to get control of the streets. We have to eliminate the enemies of Peròn."

Evita urged her party workers to visit homes and explain to housewives that if everybody would get along with a little less, shortages would soon pass and Argentina's economy would be saved. She also urged vigilance against those "traitors" who blamed the shortages on the government. "I advise that note be made of overheard conversations," she said. "I advocate using an espionage system such as that which Japanese embassies used to employ."

As Evita's eavesdroppers went out to their task, the police, complying with new orders from on high, began breaking up queues outside stores. Pushing through the crowds, they forced people to keep moving, scattered groups of gossiping housewives. The chief result seemed to be that some women & children lost their places in line.