LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS: STAFF NOTES JANUARY 8, 1975[SANITIZED] - 1975/01/08

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Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
02902660
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
20
Document Creation Date: 
April 3, 2019
Document Release Date: 
April 12, 2019
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Publication Date: 
January 8, 1975
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PDF icon LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS STA[15515093].pdf448.12 KB
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Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 rri)L \lb 10) 3.5(c) SeC Latin American American Trends 3.5(c) jeerer f January 8, 1975 No. 0491/75 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 3.5(c) Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 SECRET LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com- munity by the Western Hemisphere Division, Office of Current Intelligence, with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to the authors of the individual articles. CONTENTS January 8, 1975 Argentina: Looking Far Ahead? 4 -�- SEGRET Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 _SgetET 3.5(c) Argentina; Looking Far Ahead? "President Maria Estela de Peron will not seek reelection in 1977." This announcement last week, by a high government official, was calculated to divert public attention from Argentina's deepening economic problems toward elections that are still more than two years away. Such tactics are commonplace in a country where voting has long been considered the panacea for national ills. Early in this century the Radical Party rose to power on the sole platform issue of making the vote compulsory for all men over eighteen. The last military government, headed by Alejandro Lanusse, openly admitted its inability to cope with economic woes of stagnation and rampant inflation, but retained a measure of popular support by promising a return to free elections. In reality, however, there are no likely parlia- mentary solutions to the major issues that divide Argentines. The internecine battles in the streets of Buenos Aires serve as a constant reminder of the incapacity of successive governments, both military and Peronist, to solve chronic political and economic difficulties. Although the combatants--terrorist and counterterrorist--are few in number, their con- tinuing presence is the major preoccupation of this government. Now, younger officers within the military are voicing increasing concern that the promises of the most recent election will not be fulfilled. The weekly magazine Panorama, a publication generally well informed on military matters, recently took note of this dissatisfaction. According to the respected January 8, 1975 -4 - SEGR-.Er Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 SEGRET columnist Jorge Lozano, lieutenants and captains re- call the overwhelming vote for change communicated in the Peronist victories of March and September 1973 and are observing that major transformations have not occurred. Lozano avoids analytical judgments, but paints instead a picture of disappointment and frustration over extremist violence and legislative inattention to social pressures. He states that there is no talk of a golpe, but notes that junior army officers, many of whom have been victims of the terrorists, are becoming highly criticial of this government. He concludes that: "no one is calling for a moralistic revolution, but it is wise to take heed of underlying shifts of sentiment. A captain is not a youth believing in Utopia. He is about 40 years old, earning a salary similar to a junior executive in a bank. He shares the intellectual preoccupations of his contemporaries, and has to support a family. Above all he is an Argentine, not a man from another planet, nor an agent from Paris or the CIA." 3.5(c) January 8, 1975 -5- Approved for for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 3.3(b)(1) NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 NR Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660 Approved for Release: 2018/10/01 CO2902660