835.00/1418: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Armour) to the Secretary of State
[Received3:42 p.m.]
1144. We are in another period of alarms and revolutionary rumors, this time centering around General Ramírez, the Minister of War. Ramírez and a group of active officers in the army and navy have been worried for months at Argentina’s inability to obtain arms to keep up with the arming of her neighbors. They were reliably reported some months ago to have vainly asked the President to alter the country’s foreign policy in order to make it possible to acquire arms through Lend-Lease. Their alarm appears now to have grown to such proportions that they are reported to be contemplating even an army revolution. We are told that this group of generals approached the Radicals inquiring whether they would have that major political party’s support in the event they tried a coup d’état. Our informant, a Radical Deputy, says that he has been a member of the Radical group which has held exploratory conversations in this sense with representatives of the Armed Forces. He confesses that the situation is still confused. The army does not like Patrón Costas1 but will probably refrain from violence if he commits himself to a change in foreign policy in line with the wishes of this group.
Another rumor accounted for Ramírez’s activities on the ground that he is preparing a nucleus in the army and navy to resist any position adopted by Nationalist[s] to block Patrón Costas’ candidacy for the Presidency. Rumors are so rife that he was forced to publish a statement in this morning’s press denying that he is engaged in any activities other than those connected with his capacity as a soldier and a Minister of State.
- Vice President of Argentina.↩