Argentina’s Alfonsin Hands Over the Reins to Menem

Peronist Carlos Saul Menem, who dreamed of the presidency from his jail cell during the last dictatorship, took office Saturday with a call for reconciliation and sacrifice so that “from these ruins, we will build the country we deserve.”

Menem, elected in a landslide in May, was sworn in five months early after President Raul Alfonsin resigned in the face of a devastating economic crisis that has brought unprecedented hunger and hardship.

Although Alfonsin departed with his reputation ravaged by his economic failures, he was able to fulfill a historic pledge when he placed the blue-and-white presidential sash on Menem. It was the first transition from a civilian president to an elected successor in six decades, breaking a cycle of periodic military intervention in politics dating back to 1930.

In his inaugural address, Menem moved still closer to saying that he would declare an amnesty for military officers accused of human rights violations during the 1976-83 dictatorship. Alfonsin put five former junta members behind bars, but his continual conflict with the military led to three army rebellions.

Menem, a 59-year-old provincial governor, spent five years in detention without charge during that period, along with many other Peronists. He said that after nearly six years of democracy, the wounds remain unhealed. “To this, I say enough. . . . We are not going to stir up the ghosts.”

He focused his speech on the need to attack the structural problems that brought Argentina from the ranks of the world’s 10 wealthiest countries to Third-World style hyperinflation and a minimum wage worth $18 a month.

“There is no other way to say it: The country is broken, devastated, destroyed, razed,” Menem said.

On Alfonsin’s final day in office, officials disclosed that inflation for the first week of July alone climbed 45%, with the monthly total expected to be near 180%. That is more than four times the record before Alfonsin took office for a six-year term that should have ended Dec. 10.

But rather than blame Alfonsin, Menem declared, “The reality that we all must admit if we want to succeed is that all of us are responsible for this Argentine failure.”

In appealing to Argentines to take up this new opportunity--”perhaps the last”--Menem promised a pragmatic administration that would favor no single sector. He said he would attack the tradition of offering privileges to whatever group happened to be in power, be it business, labor or the military.

“Argentines, get up and walk,” he said in his address to a joint session of Congress, attended by six Latin American presidents and delegations from 77 countries.

Criticized during the campaign for his flamboyant style--including long hair and flowing sideburns--Menem has surprised many critics with his political skills and his ability to reach out to a range of sectors in this divided society. Calming fears of continued Peronist state domination in the economy, he named a conservative economy minister, Miguel Roig, from the huge grain-exporting conglomerate, Bunge and Born.

Menem also made clear he would not pander to the trade union movement, the traditional backbone of the Justicialist Party, the formal name for the Peronists. He has tried to dislodge the secretary general of the General Confederation of Labor, so far unsuccessfully.

He repeatedly said Argentines would have to work, sacrifice and compromise to emerge from the crisis and become competitive in world markets.

“Hard days are coming,” Menem said from the Government House balcony to thousands of Peronists gathered in the Plaza de Mayo. To a joint session of Congress, Menem said that Argentines will have to learn to pay taxes and that corruption “will be considered treason.”

The son of Syrian immigrants, Menem is the first Peronist to be elected in his own right other than the party’s founder. Gen. Juan D. Peron, who himself emerged after a military coup in 1943 to be elected in 1946 and again in 1952, was overthrown in a coup in 1955. He returned from exile to rule again briefly until his death in July, 1974.

His third wife and vice president, Maria Estela Peron, was deposed in a coup in 1976 at a time of left-wing insurgency and economic turmoil. During the dictatorship that followed, at least 9,000 Argentines “disappeared” and were presumed murdered by the regime. Menem said it was “time to turn this painful page” and find a definitive solution “for the wounds that have yet to heal.”

Many analysts have noted that while the economic crisis now is far more grave, the military commanders have never shown interest in intervening, and Alfonsin’s principal legacy--respect for civil rights--remains intact.

Nevertheless, the accelerating economic deterioration fostered widespread suffering, prompting fears of a social explosion. Hyperinflation slashed buying power by 40%, the Argentine currency plunged from 17 australs to the dollar to 540 australs, and supermarket lootings erupted in May, leaving 15 dead and 2,000 arrested. That turmoil apparently persuaded Alfonsin to step down early.

Alfonsin and Menem embraced after the ceremony in the Government House, and the 62-year-old outgoing president flew by helicopter to his home town of Chascomus in Buenos Aires province. He has said he plans to remain active in the Radical party.

Menem is determined not to repeat the errors of Alfonsin, who would not or could not say no to Argentina’s array of powerful interest groups.

Menem’s advisers insist he will privatize or close money-losing state-owned companies that account for half the government’s budget deficit and raise the cost of public services to their real levels. Details are to be announced today.

Although Argentines were bitterly disappointed at the nation’s decline during Alfonsin’s term, most people sounded willing to give Menem a chance, even if that meant hardships in exchange for long-term improvements. Menem appeared equally determined to take advantage of that good will while it lasts.

“Argentines voted for a transformation of our decadence,” he told Congress. “Either all Argentines cure this country or Argentina dies. This is the cruel choice.”