Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the confederated CGT unions. Hundreds of military officers, who were
deemed to have been too compliant during Perón's presidency, received
early retirement. In an effort to discredit the exiled Perón, the govern-
ment displayed the luxuries that Juan and Evita had collected during
their time in power—designer wardrobes, fur coats, expensive automo-
biles and motor scooters, and Evita's jewelry collection. They spread
rumors that the Peróns had diverted millions of dollars into Swiss bank
accounts.
Aramburu's zeal to de-Peronize Argentina extended to the dead as
well. He ordered a military subordinate to remove the embalmed body
of Evita Perón from its resting place at CGT headquarters and make it
disappear. For the next 17 years, no one knew what had happened to
Evita's corpse. The general intended to deny the Peronist faithful their
potent symbol of resistance, but little did he know that this gesture was
to make him a target of a future generation of Peronists.
The generals under Aramburu's leadership did not plan to control
government indefinitely, merely to manage the return of power to
“acceptable” civilian politicians. The strategies paralleled those of the
1930s when the Radicals (then the largest party in the country) were
persecuted; now, in the late 1950s, the military excluded the Peronists
from the political arena. In the elections of 1958, no Peronists could
present themselves for office. This exclusion should have benefited
the Radical Party presidential candidate; however, the second-largest
political group in the country had just split into two groups. One of
these factions, led by candidate Arturo Frondizi, had made a secret pact
with the exiled Juan Perón, living in Venezuela at the time, to increase
its chances of winning. Frondizi bargained for Peronist votes in the
presidential election in exchange for permitting Peronist candidates to
run in subsequent congressional and gubernatorial contests. Frondizi
defeated the candidate of the rival faction of the Radical Party and
assumed the presidency under a cloud of uncertainty.
Frondizi ruled for nearly four years of his five-year term. The
military generals stood behind him suspiciously, watching his every
decision for betrayal of the “secret” deal about which they had heard
rumors. Frondizi made a triumphant state visit to meet President
John F. Kennedy in Washington, D.C., and returned with promises
of economic assistance under the new Alliance for Progress program;
however, the generals became alarmed when Frondizi met with the
expatriate revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. The Radical president
went ahead, in compliance with his agreement with Perón, and allowed
Peronist candidates to participate in the gubernatorial elections of 1962.
