Word: ongania
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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...have a vast plan in my pocket," boasted Lieut. General Juan Carlos On-gania to his countrymen four years ago after an army coup had installed him as President of Argentina. It became increasingly clear that Ongania's chief aim was to perpetuate his own authoritarian rule. To do so, he sought to create a corporate state in the style of Italy's Mussolini or Spain's Franco. Instead of holding elections, Ongania planned to establish a "three-pillared state" by appointing representatives of the unions, business interests and the technical-professional class to new executive advisory...
...pursuit of this goal, Ongania began to solicit the support of the labor unions, many of which are still dominated by the totalitarian principles of the long-deposed Juan Peron. Ongania's appeal to the unions and entrepreneurs angered the army generals, who consider themselves the guardians of Argentina's welfare. At a meeting last month the generals barraged the President with complaints about his dictatorial designs. When one young general complained of a "lack of dialogue," Ongania replied, "But we are having a dialogue now." "We are not," snapped the general. "You are lecturing us, and besides...
...Ongania was unpopular with civilians and military alike for his stubborn authoritarianism. His generals called him "El Cano" (The Pipe), because, as one officer explained it, "He is very straight, but also very hollow." He did manage to curb Argentina's dangerous inflation, which dropped from 26.7% in 1966 to 6.5% last year. He won the gratitude of foreign businessmen by allowing repatriation of profits and by inviting the return of foreign oil companies whose exploration contracts had been canceled by his civilian predecessor, President Arturo Umberto Illia...
...after the bloody labor rioting last year at the industrial city of Cordoba in which 22 persons were killed, Ongania's power began to crumble. While the country was beset by a wave of crime and violence and a gradual return of inflation, Ongania's only prescription was to tighten censorship and complain that Argentines suffered from "an excess of freedom." The final blow may well have been the loss of prestige that Ongania suffered by the kidnaping two weeks ago of a former President, Lieut. General Pedro Eugenio Aramburu, who ruled the country for 2½ years...
...Juan Peron warned that the killing of Aramburu could plunge Argentina into civil war, which is exactly what the terrorists seemed to want. Taking advantage of the disorder, 6,000 workers in Cordoba seized eight automobile plants to dramatize their demands for higher wages. In Buenos Aires, Dictator Ongania dramatically reinstated the death penalty -banned since 1921-for kidnapers who kill or seriously wound their victims...