Politic al Tensions Affecting Argentine Jewry By ASHER MIBASHAN (Copyright 1970, JTA, Inc.) Since mid-1969 and through 1970, Argentina lives in the spasms of opposing, dangerous tensions. Some of the following items could be headed "now It can be told." On May 29, 1969, there was a serious urban guerrilla attempt in Cordoba. While the minister of interior resigned and there appear- ed visible- signs of lack of trust in the government's ability to weath- er the storm, investors started selling stock and buying dollars to the tune of more than $400,000,000, a considerable amount for Latin American standards—from fear of an eventual .peso devaluation. A month later Timoteo Vandor, a conspicuous union leader was mur- dered, while the authors of the crime are yet unknown. The gov- ernment clamped down with the state of siege. Some journals were closed. The economy of the country took a steep turn downwards: bankruptcies and financial crashes became the subjects for daily gos- sip. A feeling of insecurity seized the man in the street. The prospects of political change were dim, as happens in a more or less totalitarian regime. Fancy theories of corporate stream- lining, called elegantly "participa- tionism" or "commun it a r is m" were being launched like trial bal- loons from the interior ministry and adopted within the Province of Buenos Aires, forgetting that a majority of Argentinians evidence little taste for fascist experiments, beyond certain limits. The blank check given in 1966 to General Juan Carlos Ongania was rapidly losing value and was recalled a few weeks ago. These remarks seem, at first sight, to have not much to do with the situation of the Jewish community, but they define a climate. Of course the Jews do not live in a tight enclosure: events affect them in their cap- acity as citizens, in addition to specific effects. On another level, what principal. ly arouses the attention of this observer is the creeping loss of moral standards in many Jewish financial institutions. A dozen or so Jewish cooperative banks had to close down due to what could be mildly termed "mismanage- ment" on the part of their officers and managers, with defalcations, swindles and other unholy marten- the DAIA called on the subsecre- I vers, leaving thousands of small tary of the interior ministry, who de;ositors without a cent. expressed the usual regrets of the A genuine financial crisis has Ongania government. He added. developed in the Jewish district, however, that, since the police had over and above the general eco- its hands full with other matters, nomic recession. This affects sev- the Jewish leaders would do best erely the Jewish funds and leaves in taking the defense of their in the school system wrestling with stitutions in their own hands. seemingly insurmountable prob- During May there was a national lems, as these cooperative banks convention_ of the Argentine Na- were important providers to Jew- tional Socialist Party, composed of ish schools and contributors to the several hundred neo-Nazis, led by funds. The series of scandals, de- the son of Adolf Eichmann. flagrating in chain reaction is On the national level, the recent causing revulsion in the leadership change by force of the -govern- of the central Jewish organiza- ment, composed at present by a tions. But not much can be done, rather ample coalition of minis- due to lack of effective power to ters with a marked liberal record enforce corrective steps. The Rue- and under the overall guidance nos Aires kehilla publishes every and control of the armed forces now and then a list of the mem- which hold some key positions, bers stricken off its roll "for augurs better for democracy than ethical reasons." There looms a the outspoken rightist cabinet of widespread atmosphere of distrust, General Ongania. The tragic kid- blocking any constructive outlook. naping and murder -of the former The general press has dealt in de- President General Aramburu has tail with some of the more re- triggered a strong repressive sounding affairs and it must be action against extremist activities, acknowledged, that though the gun left and right. It should be' hoped, has been charged — the subject therefore, that the danger of anti- lends itself marvelously well for Jewish excesses will diminish. an anti-Jewish campaign—for some mysterious reason the trigger has •■•■■■•■■■••■••■■•y■- ........... not yet been pulled. Holiday Good Cheer In this not very heartening re- view we shall dwell rather sketch- ily on the usual particulars of anti- Semitic excesses, which stayed 4646 Michigan Ave. more or less within the "normal" 826-6800 pattern. Some heightening of the Arab League's incitation campaign could be noted at the end of 1969, with an anti-Zionist "lecture" tour Greetings and Best Wishes i of the Syrian ambassador, oppor- tunely pared by the local filials cf SPICK CLEANER I DAIA, the central representative & FURRIERS Jewish body in Argentina. I I i Prescriptions Promptly Delivered i In November the Patriarch of i Specializing in All Alterations Anticchia, Maximos V. Hakim, on Ladies', Men's and i Children's Clothing visited Buenos Aires agitating i 24 8 13 Greenfield viciously against Israel, stating: EL 7-1141 "In the last 25 years, I suffered in my own flesh the Middle East drama, protagonized by the HOLIDAY GREETINGS Arabs, martyred by the Zionists. Today the holy places are ban- ned to Christians and Muslims . . . Everything began with the creation of the state of Israel." 1525 WANDA He was energetically refuted by JO 4=6990 the Israeli embassy, which stressed that during the 20 years he lived in Israel, Archbishop Hakim had spoken differently. New Year's Greetings After a recent bombing attack To Our Friends and against 'the Jewish community center in La Plata, a delegation of ▪ GECeD RHARrS rs , Serwer's Wholesalers MEAT MARKET Happy New Year — Shalom Aleichem CADIEUX APPLIANCE SERVICE 863 8424 15349 Wyoming - * iur-our-ovaiwiL4444-44-1.441 * Happy New Year to AU Our Friends and Patrons 322 W. McNic * * 1 4 KOW KOW INN Specializing In Americrn Food Famous for All Chinese Native Foods Real Cantonese Family Dinners Y-OUT SERVICE te. 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Seven Mile, & Telegisph KE 1-9000 TOPIN 'S Across from the Fisher eatre TR 5-2614 18326 Woodward, Detroit 883-1900 O a TO 9-5588 00000080 _.271 W. MAPLE,. Birmingham, Mich. TO 8-7550 1 1940 CITY SMOKED FISH CO. * * * ss4s44444.16usausis********-1,1441 * -1c * 4( Best Wishes fOr a * it * Happy New Year EDER FURNITURE CO. A Happy and Healthy New Year KAR NUT CO. The home of home-made German Style Sausages. Finest Quality Meats 9930 Wyoming WE 3-0602 Season's Greetings If the Jewish community will be able to excise from its midst the rotten branches, given the bet- ter atmosphere breathed now in I Argentina, a somewhat more opti- mistic outlook can be offered for the coming year. THE DETROIT JEWISH, NEWS . Friday, October 2, If70-51