Argentina’s Close One

Last weekend, for the third time in two years, Argentina’s embattled democracy faced down a threatened coup d’etat by the nation’s armed forces. While it is a tribute to the patience and negotiating skill of President Raul Alfonsin, this may not be the last time that that nation’s overbearing military clashes with its civilian authority.

Not surprisingly, the demands of the few thousand soldiers who tried to foment the latest rebellion included amnesty for the leaders of the two previous unsuccessful coup attempts. In all three instances rebellious troops have demanded that Alfonsin halt his campaign to bring legal charges against several generals and admirals who controlled the Argentine government during the last military regime, which lasted from 1976 to 1982. It was widespread revulsion against the military’s two most important actions of that period--a repressive “dirty war” against suspected subversives in Argentina and a disastrous campaign to wrest control of the Falkland Islands from Great Britain--that forced the military from power in the first place.

Apparently some Argentine officers simply refuse to accept the lesson that the last junta’s experience should have taught them: that even the most powerful faction cannot govern effectively for long without genuine public support. And for now the people of Argentina remain on the side of civilians like Alfonsin. If Argentina can hold the election scheduled for next year, Alfonsin will be the first civilian president in 50 years to hand power to another civilian.

Of course, Argentines can hardly be faulted if they are growing weary over the constant tension between their weak civilian government and the military. But if they need inspiration they need only look to another South American country, Venezuela, which held peaceful elections the same day Alfonsin persuaded the rebellious army units to lay down their arms.

Thirty years ago Venezuela was also struggling to make the difficult transition from military rule to democracy. Its newly elected president, Romulo Betancourt, faced not only daunting economic problems but also a guerrilla movement that was backed by Fidel Castro, still heady after his triumph in Cuba. Like Alfonsin and most other democratically elected leaders, Betancourt was not as dramatic or as forceful as Castro. He was a patient, even plodding, leader. But he outlasted the insurgency, laid the groundwork for economic progress and calmly persuaded Venezuelans to accept democracy, civilian control and peaceful elections as the norm rather than the exception for their politics. If Argentines keep faith with democrats like Alfonsin, it is possible that they, too, will someday look back on military coups as relics of a bygone era.