Major Mistake in Argentina

Argentina’s President Carlos Saul Menem made a mistake this past weekend when he issued a blanket pardon for the military men and political terrorists responsible for most of that country’s recent political turmoil. The move also gambles that democracy has deep enough roots that Argentines can resist if their military leaders decide to take over the government again.

The move was not unexpected. During the campaign that preceded his election, Menem hinted that he might issue such pardons in an effort to “heal the wounds” still left from one of the darkest eras of modern Argentine history--the terrorist campaigns waged by urban guerrillas in the 1970s which led, in turn, to a “dirty war” by a military government determined to wipe out all traces of subversion. Thousands of innocent people were killed in those terrible times, most of them by the military’s security apparatus.

More than 200 beneficiaries of Menem’s forgiveness are former military officers, including three former junta members who led Argentina to military defeat by Great Britain in a war over the Falkland Islands. Also forgiven are 39 officers accused of human-rights violations during the dirty war, and 164 military men alleged to have taken part in armed uprisings against Menem’s predecessor, Raul Alfonsin.

The pardons are troubling because they weaken a legal precedent set under Alfonsin that military leaders could be held responsible for crimes committed during military rule. Considering the history of military juntas in Latin America, that was an important precedent for the region.

Menem’s decision to forgive the men who plotted against Alfonsin is especially worrisome. They are much younger than the generals and admirals who staged the 1976 coup, oversaw the dirty war and the futile South Atlantic war. The fact that they challenged an elected president indicates that they share attitudes that made older offices think they could dictate Argentine policy with guns.

Such thinking has permeated Argentina’s military caste for too long. When Alfonsin stepped aside for Menem, it marked the first time in 60 years that one democratically elected civilian president had succeeded another. Some of Menem’s advisers argue that he granted the pardons so that he can focus his energies on the economic problems that are an even greater challenge for Argentina. In some cases, that would be a practical reason for trying to excise a divisive and emotional, but largely symbolic, political issue. But if the dramatic economic changes Menem is trying to bring about in Argentina don’t work out as quickly or easily as his supporters hope, the pardons could work the other way--as invitations to the military to intervene to do things the way the generals think they should be done. One can only hope that democracy in Argentina has gotten strong enough in recent years that Menem’s pardons will not tempt the military to assert its influence again.