78-14-B6
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Argentina[edit]
Transcript[edit]There is an old Indian proverb: "Before I criticize a man, may I walk a mile in his moccasins." Patricia Derian and her minions at Mr. Carter's Human Rights Office apparently haven't heard of it. If they had, they might not be making such a mess of our relations with the planet's seventh largest country, Argentina, a nation with which we should be close friends. No sooner had President Carter made his early and strong statement on human rights principles than born-again McGovernites began infesting various foreign policymaking levels in the new administration, with an eye toward forcing any nation they could to tow the mark. And, they defined the mark. Nearly any charge made against nations such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile was assumed to be true. As a result, the Carter Human Rights Office has managed since to hold up export licenses for important sales to these and other nations. Now comes a man whose moccasins Ms. Derian & Co. should try: Dr. Jose A. Martinez de Hoz, minister of economy of Argentina. He came to the U.S. for the recent annual meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, but a few days before that he addressed San Francisco's Commonwealth Club. He also put Argentina's story in perspective. Martinez de Hoz is the architect of what may turn out to be one of the most remarkable economic recoveries in modern history. By March, 1976--the tail end of Peronism under the widow of Juan Peron -- Argentina's people were being crushed by a 920 percent inflation rate. The central bank was nearly broke; there was a foreign trade deficit; tax collections were dropping and the government was shot through with corruption, sliding toward chaos. The armed forces stepped in. As Martinez de Hoz explained, as a last resort, to keep the country together. He said that his country had been facing a well-equipped force of 15,000 terrorists who were "destroying the social fabric" of the country. "What the government had to do was to protect the human rights of 25 million people against a minority of people who had gone ideologically haywire," he said. Though the situation is virtually under control today, soma terrorists have quietly slipped back "above ground" and others have gone into exile, and Martinez de Hoz says, "it is a sad reality that there will be a certain number of people that the government will never be able to account for." When this quiet, Cambridge-educated man speaks about a return to democracy he speaks with conviction. Argentina's economic recovery shows every sign of making that day come sooner rather than later. Inflation, though still sky-high by our measurements, is down from that 920 percent to 102 percent. Tax collections have doubled (always a sign of increased confidence in government). The deficit has been forced down almost to zero and no more printing press money is needed. Central bank reserves are up from $23 million to $6 billion; there was a trade surplus for the first half of 1978. To top it off a $1 billion standby credit from U.S. and Canadian banks has been cancelled by Argentina as not needed. That must have had the sweetest taste of all to Dr. Martinez de Hoz and his colleagues. Ms. Derian, would you care to try on a new pair of moccasins? This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening. |
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