Alfonsin Hailed as ‘Man of the Americas’

President Raul Alfonsin of Argentina, visiting San Diego as part of an unofficial four-day trip to the United States, on Saturday embraced a protester, visited a computer center, spoke with President Reagan by telephone and received an award honoring him as “Man of the Americas.”

The award was presented Saturday evening to Alfonsin during a $200-a-plate dinner held in his honor at the Hotel del Coronado. The award was given by the Institute of the Americas, a La Jolla-based study institution founded by Theodore E. Gildred, a San Diego businessman who is now the American ambassador to Argentina and who accompanied Alfonsin during his trip.

Earlier, Alfonsin, arriving for a news conference at the institute’s headquarters, spotted four protesters carrying a white banner that proclaimed, “ No Amnistia; Si Democracia (Amnesty No; Democracy Yes).”

The protesters were criticizing a new Argentine law, backed by Alfonsin, that bars prosecution of about 250 military officers accused of committing human rights abuses during the so-called “dirty war” that convulsed Argentina in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Alfonsin, whose election in 1983 restored civilian, constitutional democracy to Argentina after seven years of military rule, has come under criticism from human rights groups because of the law, which benefits officers who held junior- and middle-level ranks at the time of the dirty war.

‘We Don’t Support Amnesty’

“We told him (Alfonsin) that we support him but that we don’t support amnesty,” said Monica Szurmuk, an Argentine protester who is a student here and who was embraced and kissed by Alfonsin.

Afterward, Alfonsin hailed the protesters.

“I enjoyed conversing with them very much,” the 60-year-old chief of state said.

During a brief news conference, Alfonsin said that his democratic administration is “absolutely” stable. Others have questioned this stability because of the open discontent of military officials with trials against security officials accused of human rights abuses during the dirty war. An estimated 9,000 people disappeared and are believed to have been killed during that period.

Asked about Central America, Alfonsin expressed general support for peace efforts being pursued by the so-called Contadora Group of four countries--Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Panama--and by President Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica, who is pressing a peace plan of his own that closely resembles the Contadora effort.

Alfonsin added that his nation backs the establishment of a “pluralistic democracy” in Nicaragua, where U.S.-supported guerrillas are fighting to topple the Marxist-led Sandinista government.

After speaking to the press, Alfonsin toured a computer center on the grounds of UC San Diego.

Saturday afternoon, Alfonsin spoke by telephone with President Reagan. He is scheduled to leave San Diego today for visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco before returning to Argentina on Monday.