Argentine Government Research Articles

The United States, the German-Argentines, and the Myth of the Fourth Reich, 1943-47*

IN 1945 and 1946 the Argentine government, under great pressure from the United States State Department, seized approximately 250 German-owned businesses. In the fullnes of time some were restored to their owners; others-whose assets had been gutted-were allowed to disappear; still others were auctioned off 1958, the state taking about a third of the proceeds. The final odds and ends of the legal tangle were cleared up only 1966.' Similarly, at war's end, from Allied lists, which included, at first, goo names, the Argentines deported 6o spies and undesirables, most of them German nationals; almost all would be back Argentina by mid-1948.2 And beginning September 1945 the government closed the schools and civil associations of the German-speaking collectivity, seizing the property of many. All but a few reopened by the early 1950s, but property issues remained dispute for a decade longer. In July 1946 George Messersmith, the United States ambassador to Argentina, reported to Washington that, the matter of the suppression of the German-Argentines, at least, the Argentines had substantially complied with their obligations under the Chapultepec Agreements. He wondered why, he said, in this particular field the Argentine Government proceeded with more vigor and effectiveness than it has so far [shown with respect to] enemy property and subjects; but he supposed it was simply easier [for Per6n] to take this

Correspondence

CORRESPONDENCE Margaret E. Clark and David Ray, editors Human Rights Policy as Principle To the Editor: Stephen Wrage's "Another Look at Human Rights" (sais review 3, WinterSpring 1983), offers yet another critique of the Carter human rights policy. Without abandoning the principle, Wrage argues that with some major adjustments, the policies could be made to work effectively. In his view, Carter frittered away his advantage by setting his sights too high, succumbing to flamboyant crusading rhetoric, and stubbornly trying to "raise global consciousness " on human rights. Mr. Wrage eschews Carter's ambitious design and opts for a more modest approach. The approach for success would include (1) a specific objective; (2) an array of pressures concentrated into a comprehensive program ; and (3) a notion by the accused that some benefit will accrue through compliance with the demands. Only the combination of these ingredients guarantees success . Three salient examples from the Carter years were highlighted as proof that when all the conditions are met, success is inevitable. Apart from these exceptions, according to Mr. Wrage, the Carter record was a dismal failure. In Mr. Wrage's haste to prove his thesis, he misreads a number of factors, misinterprets the consequences of the Carter campaign , and ultimately gives us a prescription more oriented toward accomplishing specific casework than setting out the broad principles that should help guide U.S. foreign policy. The criticism most often leveled at the Carter policy was that it was unevenly applied . While he castigated the Argentine government for killing and making thousands of its own citizens disappear, he toasted the shah's government at a New Year's Eve celebration in Tehran. Where the Carter policy was applied most vigorously—in Latin America—the results have been notable. In addition to saving many lives, the United States began to recover a measure of goodwill among the Latin American peoples. In the developing world, the United States is regrettably not viewed very sympathetically. Strident anticommunism combined with material abundance do not provide an adequate basis upon which to build a national image. The United States needs to be able to clearly articulate before a global audience the human rights values that are embedded deep within the spiritual fabric of this society. I therefore take sharp exception to Mr. Wrage's obvious displeasure over the cosmic vision of the Carter advocates . Whereas I would not quarrel with Mr. Wrage's recipe for effective human rights work, I would hasten to point out a couple of pitfalls if immediate success is the only criterion. First, human rights practices are seldom reversed overnight but require a long incubation. Therefore, steady, longterm pressure may ultimately be the best 239 240 SAIS REVIEW antidote to entrenched, repressive regimes. Second, if an administration is required to forgo action until all the components in Mr. Wrage's formula are present, precious few human rights actions would ever be taken. The U.S. government should not be reduced to doing only casework. However, when opportunities for immediate and forceful action arise, certainly there should be no hesitation. As Mr. Wrage points out, private groups specialize in the effective deployment of the tactics he prescribes for the U.S. government. While applauding the work of these private and intergovernmental groups (Amnesty International, the OAS's Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, etc.), he neglects to mention that the work of these groups was enormously strengthened by President Carter's "noisy" human rights diplomacy. Finally, I must take issue with Mr. Wrage's interpretation of the facts. At one point he said that when the Carter administration threatened to cut arms to Argentina and Uruguay (actually the State Department was only attempting to faithfully comply with the human rights legislation), other countries including Guatemala, Brazil , and El Salvador repudiated military aid. Mr. Wrage maintains that "nothing was gained and leverage was lost." It would be more accurate to say that these strange human rights notions emanating from Washington both irritated and jarred a number of Latin America militaries. Human rights leverage was increased and improvements did occur over time in some of the countries that suffered this reproach. Mr. Wrage despairs of the Carter idealism . In foreign...

Sovereignty and the Falklands crisis

On 6 November 1982 the General Assembly of the United Nations voted by a large majority, ninety votes to twelve, with fifty-two abstentions, to request 'the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to resume negotiations in order to find as soon as possible a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute relating to the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)'. The resolution was co-sponsored by one of the parties to the dispute, namely Argentina, and may therefore be regarded as evidence that that country regards its claim to the territory in question to be a strong one. Mr Francis Pym, the British Foreign Secretary, on the other hand has stated publicly (4 May 1982) that Britain has no doubts, and never has had, as to the validity of its claim. As Peter Beck has recently shown, historically this is not absolutely true. The Foreign Office has on a number of occasions since 1910 been the scene of doubts about the validity of Britain's case in international law1 and in fact the grounds on which Britain has based its claim have been changed not once but twice during the period. Moreover, Argentina has not been historically as resolute in pursuing its claims as it would like people to think. The claims on both sides are based on historical facts that are by turns vague, confused and disputed, and if there is to be any resolution of the question a great deal of homework will have to be done first by both parties. This, then, is a contribution to the debate. First of all, an outline of the problem.

Indifferent Sanctuary: German-Speaking Refugees and Exiles in Argentina, 1933-1945

Between 1933 and the end of World War II, Argentina became the home of some 43,000 Jewish refugees from Nazism, almost all of them of German, Austrian, or West European origin. Measured against the country's total population, 13 million in 1931, 16 million according to the 1947 census, Argentina received more Jewish refugees per capita than any other country in the world except Palestine (Wasserstein, 1979: 7,45). This did not occur by design of the Argentine government; on the contrary, its immigration policies became interestingly restrictive as the years of the world crisis wore on.In practice, however, Argentina was unable to patrol effectively its long borders with the neighboring republics of Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. The overseas consuls of these nations, especially the first three, did a brisk and lucrative trade in visas and entry permits for persons desperate to escape the Nazi terror.

Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism Revisited

With the publication in 1973 of Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism: Studies in South American Politics, Guillermo O'Donnell initiated a new phase in the debate over the relationship between social change and politics in Latin America. In contrast to most of the political development literature of the 1950s and 1960s, O'Donnell argued that social and economic modernization in the context of delayed development is more likely to lead to authoritarianism than democracy. His analysis focused on the emergence of military regimes in Argentina and Brazil in the middle 1960s—regimes that he labeled “bureaucratic-authoritarian” to distinguish them from oligarchical and populist forms of authoritarian rule found in less modernized countries. O'Donnell's suggestion that an “elective affinity” exists between higher levels of modernization and the rise of bureaucratic-authoritarianism in South America anticipated the military takeovers of the 1970s in Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina. The timeliness of his argument, together with its broad theoretical implications, stimulated considerable discussion, which culminated in the recent publication of a volume devoted to the exploration of themes raised by O'Donnell.

Discipline as the central objective of economic policy: An essay on the economic programme of the Argentine government since 1976

This paper evaluates the economic policies adopted by the Argentine government since the coup of 1976, in the light of that administration's view of the nature and causes of the preceding economic and political dislocations. It outlines the interpretation proposed by liberal ideologists which traced the origins of the problem to economic distortions that had built up over a 30-yr period, and that were considered inextricably bound up with the political strategies characteristic of Peronism. The far-reaching and highly ideological character of this interpretation, linking together the economic and the political, found favour with a military government convinced that only very profound structural changes could rescue Argentina from its mid- 1970s predicament, and that viewed economic policy not so much as an end in itself, but as an integral part of a political project centred on the eradication of the Peronist legacy. Viewed in this context, although short-term economic stabilization measures were regarded as important, they were not always given the highest priority by economic managers. A more important explanation of policy choices can be derived from the long-term prescriptions given by liberal economic doctrines, even where these rested on assumptions that were far removed from the realities of Argentine economic structure. Previous policy objectives such as the promotion of industrial development, and an explicit commitment to the acceleration of economic growth have been dropped, in preference for the re-establishment of a stable economic order. Various key measures of economic policy — ‘openness’ and financial reform — are best viewed as new ways to introduce more effective discipline into society. Nevertheless the paper recognizes that at various points lack of success in achieving short-term stabilization goals may have forced the authorities to modify secondary aspects of their policies, although without ever abandoning their underlying ideological commitments. Conflicts between short-term objectives and the logic of the overall ideological project may prove crucial in determining the eventual outcome of this far-reaching experiment.

The Struggle of Argentina Within the New International Division of Labor

Abstract This research examines the experience of the major political regimes in Argentina between 1950 and 1970 in the light of the attempts to move Argentina to a more favorable position within the changing international division of labor. Each regime is studied in terms of the class alliances, government economic policy, the role of foreign direct investment, and trends in national development. The crucial problems involve the promotion of non-traditional exports through domestic manufacturing without hindering the traditional agro-export sector. This problem is further complicated by the dependence on foreign investment which tends to be prejudicial to locally owned firms which account for higher wages and greater employment. Argentina, as one of the most industrialized of the underdeveloped countries, provides an important series of experiments in the struggle to develop within the new international division of labor.

Long Beach to Be Site for Solar Seminar

Long Beach to Be Site for Solar Seminar

AAAS and NAS Issue Joint Appeal to Argentine Government

AAAS and NAS Issue Joint Appeal to Argentine Government

AAAS and NAS Issue Joint Appeal to Argentine Government

AAAS and NAS Issue Joint Appeal to Argentine Government

Welsh Settlers and Native Americans in Patagonia

One of the geographical areas most neglected by historians of Latin America is Patagonia. This is particularly true of the second half of the nineteenth century, a period during which the area began to be opened up to European settlement. While it is true that some attention has been given to early European settlement on the one hand, and to the fate of the native Americans during the ‘Conquest of the Desert’ on the other, no one has thus far attempted to outline the nature of the relationships between the two populations. In this article I would like to initiate such an enquiry by focusing upon the relationship between the Welsh settlers in Chubut, who were the first Europen settlers successfully to occupy Argentinian Patagonia, and the nomadic populations which occupied the region at the time of arrival of these settlers. As is the case with most frontier histories, such a study should throw new light upon the ethnohistory of the native American population, especially as it focuses upon their relationship with the Argentine Government. Events such as the ‘Conquest of the Desert‘ are often viewed as a direct confrontation between the central government and the native Americans rather than as a phenomenon which must inevitably involve the frontier settlements as well.

Leader and Vanguard in Mass Society: A Study of Peronist Argentina, by Jeane Kirkpatrick

The Argentine political system constitutes a type of traditional Latin politics under conditions of mass society. This book examines the mix of advanced industrial technology, regime instability, military and mass participation, and personalismo that characterizes contemporary Argentine politics. It suggests that this mix of traditional and new, of democratic and autocratic elements may become increasingly common as technological advances are achieved in societies with an autocratic political tradition.The Peronist movement is identified by the author as a particularly clear-cut embodiment of this pattern of politics. A Caesarist movement in a technologically advanced society, Peron, the Peronist vanguard, and the working-class mass base are important for Argentine politics and relevant to a number of broadly influential hypotheses concerning political movements and political development.Both the micro and the macro levels of Argentine politics are examined. An interaction model derived from past and present political practices is presented, and the underlying political culture is explored. Using data from a stratified national sample, the author examines the perspectives--identifications, expectations, and demands--of Argentines generally and of Juan Peron's mass following in particular. The Peronist world is described, its size and social composition delineated. Three chapters are devoted to analyzing Peronists' perspectives on the functions and influence of such groups as the military, the Church, landowners, and the trade unions; Peronists' perceptions of government and their relationship to it; and the political demands of the movement. In each of these chapters, Peronists' orientations are related to those of other Argentines.Several important conclusions are presented in the book's last chapter. For instance, the author finds that the Peronist movement was well within the national political culture and asserts that, although it dealt with the concrete bread-and-butter issues of daily life and shared a common ideology between leaders and masses, it lacked the radical impulse for destroying the traditional order and, as such, was not an alienated mass movement. In an epilogue, Professor Kirkpatrick comments on developments in Argentina under General Ongania and observes that the chronic instability of Argentine governments results from elite rivalries rather than from deep divisions in mass opinion.This is the 12th volume in the MIT Comparative Politics Series.

The Function of the Little-Known Case in Theory Formation or What Peronism Wasn't

Americans in general have tended to interpret Peronism in terms of global trends salient to the United States rather than as a stage in Argentina's historical evolution. The public's image of Peron remains largely that of a pro-Axis dictator-a view owing much to the publicity newspapers gave to the neutrality of the Argentine government during World War II. A subsequent drop-off in attention left this dated perception behind in the popular mind. Argentina, after all, was where Hitler is alive and well. Only recently have Americans registered the fact that it is actually Peron who is alive and well and playing a central role in Argentine politics. The subordination of Argentine reality to global concerns may also be seen in Washington. We need only recall the swift change in United States policy toward Peron once our preoccupation shifted from defeating the Axis to containing the Communists. Indeed, the reversal was so marked that the Truman Administration found it difficult to bring public opinion along with it. Efforts to reach a rapprochement with Peron in 1945 struck many as a sellout approaching that of the Molotov-Rib-

An American Diplomat Writes About Latin America in 1832

The two letters included in this note date from 1832. Their interest and importance derive from a number of circumstances. In the first place, they were written by one Francis Baylies while on a special mission for the United States Government in Argentina to negotiate the settlement of a fisheries controversy growing out of the seizure of an American vessel in the Falkland Islands, to which Argentina laid claim. Baylies had no particular qualification or fitness for such a diplomatic mission, except insofar as he came from Massachusetts, and thus had an interest in shipping. He was a Federalist politician and former congressman from southern Massachusetts between 1821-1827. In the disintegration of Federalism which then occurred, Baylies found temporary and strange refuge in the camp of Andrew Jackson, whom he helped to win the Presidency in 1828. The appointment to this mission was Jackson’s somewhat anomalous reward for Baylies’ political services, in the fashion of the time. On March 8, 1832, Baylies, with his wife and young daughter, left Boston on the United States sloop-of-war, the Peacock, for South America. In less than a year, by February 12, 1833, he was back in Taunton, Massachusetts, his home town, his mission incomplete and unsuccessful. Britain’s occupation of the Falkland Islands in 1833 may, however, have disposed of the issue.

Juan M. Thome, Argentine Astronomer from the Quaker State

The founding of the Argentine National Observatory and much of its later development were the results of unusual inter-American cooperation. In 1870 the noted American astronomer Benjamin Apthorp Gould had realized his dream of inaugurating a major observatory in Argentina in order to extend to the Southern Hemisphere the kind of detailed examination of the stars already undertaken by the great observatories of the Northern Hemisphere. After a few false starts Gould was able to begin work in Córdoba thanks to the enthusiasm of President Domingo F. Sarmiento and the wholehearted support of his minister of public instruction, Nicolás Avellaneda. The Argentine government appropriated funds for the construction of an observatory and the purchase of a modest but adequate inventory of instruments.

Las condiciones del trabajo doméstico remunerado en Argentina: la provisión de cuidados

Esta investigación aborda las condiciones del trabajo doméstico en Argentina, desde la perspectiva de la literatura sobre el cuidado. En este enfoque, el trabajo doméstico se interpreta como una de las formas mercantiles en las que se organiza socialmente el cuidado, frente a la persistencia de la tradicional división sexual del trabajo y ante la debilidad de las políticas públicas. A partir de estas consideraciones, se desarrolla un estudio cuantitativo de los niveles de informalidad, precariedad y desigualdad salarial que caracterizan al trabajo doméstico en ese país. A continuación, se discuten las principales medidas adoptadas por los gobiernos argentinos a partir de 2003 con el objetivo de reducir la discriminación legal de las trabajadoras domésticas y promover su formalización. Sobre estas bases, el artículo evidencia los avances en el reconocimiento de los derechos laborales de las trabajadoras domésticas, a la vez que

The Argentine Proposal for Non-belligerency, April 1940

Argentine neutrality during World War II with its suspicious leanings toward fascism has become a cliché in inter-American relations. As far as the United States was concerned at that time, the Argentine Republic was the black sheep of the hemispheric community, the only nation that failed to cooperate wholeheartedly in the crusade against the Axis. The famous State Department “Blue Book,” so conveniently published prior to the Argentine general elections of 1946, spelled out the aid and comfort the Nazis had derived from Argentina's neutrality. By only the narrowest margin did Argentina avoid being drummed out of the hemispheric organization and barred from membership in the new United Nations.It seems strange, therefore, to recall that it was the Argentine government that first suggested, in the spring of 1940, that the nations of the Western Hemisphere discard the posture of traditional neutrality in the face of the spreading conflagration in Europe, on the grounds that it was anachronistic and did not protect their interests.

Welsh Contributions to Exploration in Patagonia

IN 1965 the Welsh colony of Patagonia celebrated one hundred years of uninterrupted occupation of Patagonian territory. Various authors have paid token tribute to the importance of the colony in Latin American history (Bowen, 1966; Williams, G., n.d.; Williams, R. B., 1962). It was the first permanent settlement to be established south of the Rio Negro, and laid the foundation for subsequent colonization projects in Patagonia. However, of all the attempts to explore what Lucas Bridges labelled, 'The uttermost part of the world', (Bridges, 1948) it is doubt? ful that any have received as little credit as those undertaken by members of this pioneering Welsh colony. Invariably their explorations were either entirely unpublicized, or the credit for the exploits was given to non-Welsh members of the various expeditions. It is hoped that this paper will alter some of these misconceptions while, at the same time, placing the role of Welsh exploration of Patagonia in its true perspective. Motives of the explorations.?It is apparent that many different motivations were involved in the Welsh exploration of their adopted home. During the years when such journeys were undertaken, the emphasis on different motivations varied considerably, being controlled by such factors as the Welsh image of the potential form of the Colony, the degree of external contact, and the political aspirations of the Argentine Government. The fact that some of the journeys were promoted by the community interests and others by individual incentive makes the problem of generalization about motivation extremely difficult. It must be remembered that the Welsh had emigrated to Chubut in the hope of pursuing nationalistic ideals that were denied them in their homeland. This was the central theme of those who organized the proposed mass relocation of Welsh culture. On the other hand, the majority of the Welsh peasants and industrial workers who joined the movement did so to further the economic interests of themselves and their families. Their main interest was in the acquisition of agricultural land. It is fairly obvious that the motivations for exploration were quite different for each of these two groups. Yet, it is also clear that a certain interaction was inevitable. Only through cooperation could the aspirations of all community members be realized. From the outset, the intention of the Welsh Emigration Society in Liverpool was to populate as much as possible of Patagonian territory with Welsh colonists (Hughes, 1862, p. 8, 18-19). They were thinking in terms of the mass migration to North America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and saw no reason why similar numbers of Welsh immigrants could not be enticed into joining the Pata? gonian colony. To them it seemed perfectly logical that such a mass relocation of population would acquire possession of the populated area and thereby gain independence. Even when it became apparent that the Argentine Government would strongly resist any such intrusion of her territory, the Society rationalized the situa? tion by adopting a compromising attitude which maintained that the immigration of 20,000 settlers would insure the achievement of provincial status which would in turn guarantee political autonomy (Jones, 1885, Pl6)The settlement of the

The ‘Typical Latin-American Revolution’

IN the past few years it has become very clear that violence as a mode of governmental change is again on the increase. 1966 alone provided striking evidence. The governments of Ghana and Nigeria were overthrown by methods formerly considered alien to countries of 'Anglo-Saxon traditions '. The governments of the Central African Republic and Upper Volta fell to the military, and that of Uganda was reconstituted by forcible means. In the Middle East, Syria was the scene of another in a long series of violent changes. In Latin America the military junta in Ecuador was supplanted by its rivals, and subsequently, in the most spectacular instance of the year, the government of Argentina was dismissed with such ease that virtually no security measures were employed to conceal the operation. Since, in a sense, the cold war itself originated in a conflict about the desirability of certain kinds of violent change, this development is clearly important. The problem is, how are we to learn more about it? One obvious way is to seek information from established sources in related fields, and it has already become clear that commentators are tending to turn for this sort of information to specialist work on Latin America. They will not be disappointed, but they will have to be very clear as to what that experience is before they seek to apply it elsewhere in the world. Above all, the reservation must be made that no generalisations have universal validity, and the differences between Latin American countries are often greater than those between any given country and any other country elsewhere in the world. Despite this fact, Latin America is considered today, in popular usage, as being that area of the world in which ' revolutions ' occur. In this usage, a 'revolution ' is considered to mean any violent change of government by internal forces. It may, by extension, be loosely applied to conspicuous examples of unsuccessful change. Curiously enough, however, students of revolution as a political phenomenon have not in the recent past drawn to any great extent on Latin American example. Since 1938, in fact, the scholarly usage has increasingly diverged from the popular, until it appears to have been felt necessary to coin a new word or phrase to describe the phenomenon. The phrase which serves as the title to this article is that used in a standard

The Welsh Colony in Patagonia 1865-1885: A Study in Historical Geography

The year 1965 marked the centenary of the establishment of a Welsh Colony in the valley of the river Chubut in Patagonia. While it was but an incident in the settlement history of Latin America, its initial phases (1865-85) illustrate many features of the greatest interest to the historical geographer, which have hitherto escaped attention. Due to the depressed conditions at home, many people from rural Wales emigrated overseas in the first half of the nineteenth century. They sought new homes in territories as far apart as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and South Africa, and in two or three generations their descendants became good citizens of their adopted lands. They often ceased to be able to speak the Welsh language and soon lost contact with Welsh life and culture. The establishment of the Welsh colony in Patagonia was an attempt to counteract this, and to establish a new home overseas where the Welsh emigrants could live together and maintain the language and way of life of the homeland. Such a plan was seriously canvassed by Welsh emigrants in the United States and it was here that the idea of establishing a colony in Patagonia was first mooted. One of the earliest supporters was Michael D. Jones who had settled in Ohio in 1845. His assistance, financial support and encouragement both in the United States and later in Wales constituted an important aspect of the movement. It was, how? ever, due to the enthusiasm of a group of Welshmen living in Liverpool in 1859 that the movement gathered momentum. They had been thinking on similar lines to those of the imigre Welshmen in the United States, and virtually formed them? selves into a Policy Committee complete with Chairman and Secretary. When in 1861 E. C. Roberts (one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the idea in the U.S.A.) returned to Liverpool and joined the committee it can be said that two parallel lines of thought had fused (Williams, 1962). Besides conducting propa? ganda through the Press, establishing contact with representatives of the Argentine Government and organizing numerous public meetings throughout Wales, the committee succeeded in doing three important things, each of which has con? siderable geographical interest.