Friendship's End

For four years, suave, handsome Jose Maria de Areilza, Count of Motrico and Spanish Ambassador to Argentina, has been one of the most successful diplomats in Buenos Aires. A close friend of the President and la Senora, he was a prime mover in setting up the recent trade agreements that tied Spain and Argentina together economically.

In last year's agreement, Argentina granted Spain a five-year credit of 1,750,000,000 pesos ($353,500,000), gave Spain the right to sell practically all her surpluses in Argentina and promised to invest in Spanish industry. In return, Spain was to send ships, rail cars and machine tools; she would also set up a free port for her partner's exclusive use. In a hostile world, Spain seemed to be Argentina's great & good friend. As the matchmaker, Ambassador de Areilza was in high favor--until last week, when a new Argentine-Spanish agreement was announced.

The new agreement did not mention the free port. Nor did Argentina renew her pledge to reinvest her peseta balances in Spain. Instead, Argentina insisted that they be pegged to gold at the U.S. price ($35 an ounce), a practical admission that she no longer trusted Spain's currency.

Even before the agreement was announced, Jose de Areilza was summoned to the office of Eva Peron, left to twiddle his thumbs in the anteroom for two hours while ward heelers came & went. When he was finally ushered into the flunky-filled presence, Eva Peron, her back turned, was getting off an insulting tirade against the Count and his country. Embarrassed by the apparent role of eavesdropping, forced on him though it was, the still-smiling Count retreated without saying a word.

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