Terrible Toll in Argentina

Food riots in Argentina, a nation once renown for its prosperity and the self-assurance of its people, are the latest warning signs of the terrible toll being taken throughout Latin America by a prolonged economic crisis.

A dozen people died and hundreds were injured and arrested as a result of rioting and looting in several Argentine cities, including some of the poorer suburbs of Buenos Aires, the nation’s normally genteel and civilized capital. The riots were apparently sparked by popular frustration at the latest efforts by outgoing President Raul Alfonsin to stem a runaway inflation (estimated at 70% last month alone) that has severely cut the buying power of the average person’s wages. On Sunday Alfonsin announced an emergency economic plan designed to keep a lid on inflation until President-elect Carlos Saul Menem takes office in December. But Alfonsin’s plan, which includes higher taxes, cuts in government spending and strict foreign-exchange controls, seemed to have no more effect than earlier tries, aside from angering many poor and working-class people.

The Alfonsin government points to the role some leftist agitators played in inciting crowds to riot. But that political opportunists tried to take advantage of the crisis should come as no surprise. What should worry both Alfonsin and Menem is the fact that hundreds of Argentines were willing to listen to the agitators--and that many others acted on their own, looting supermarkets and other food stores out of genuine desperation.

In the aftermath of Menem’s overwhelming victory in recent national elections, widely seen as a repudiation of Alfonsin and his Radical Party, discussions began to find a way for Menem and his Justicialist Party to take office early. The talks collapsed because the Radicals would not budge on their controversial economic policies and the Justicialists were reluctant to step into a bad situation--and take the responsibility for it--any sooner than they had to. But with blood and broken glass in the streets, there is even greater pressure now on both Alfonsin and Menem to take some dramatic step that could reassure Argentines that things will change, hopefully for the better.

As reluctant as both men are to discuss it, an early presidential transition may be the only peaceful means of calming things down. For the longer the nation’s civilian leaders go without resolving this crisis, the more likely it is that Argentina’s restive military--which has always seen itself as the ultimate guarantor of public order--may try to intervene. Given the terrible violence and official brutality that took place during the last military regime, from 1976 to 1983, that is not an alternative any reasonable person would want.