Who, Me?

"Are we imperialists--with only 16 million inhabitants?" asked Juan Peron last week in mock amazement. "We haven't gone crazy yet," he added. Argentina's President was assuring a group of Brazilian newsmen that he had no designs on his neighbors. "It has been said that we want to resurrect the old viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata [which included Uruguay, Paraguay and part of Bolivia]. When they say that, I always say: 'We have lots of land and we don't need any more.' "

Peron had made time for the interview in one of his busiest weeks. It was Argentina's annual army week, the 133rd anniversary of independence from Spain. There was a three-hour-long parade, followed by wreath-laying ceremonies, honorary reviews and state receptions. The two guests of honor, General Canrobert Pereira da Costa, Brazil's war minister, and Lieut. General Matthew B. Ridgway, commander of U.S. forces in the Caribbean, both got decorations.

But the biggest salute to the army was wrapped up in the annual budget which the President had just submitted to Congress. The allotment for the armed forces, whose 100,000-odd personnel are South America's best-trained, was a record 1,663,000,000 pesos (about $333 million), more than a fourth of the budget. Since there was no sign of a military threat against Argentina, and since Peron himself disavowed imperialism, what was the money for? Bigger & better parades?

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.