Argentine Standoff

After six years of military dictatorship, Argentines will finally have a chance to choose a civilian government in presidential elections scheduled for next March. But even before the campaign warms up, it is turning into a standoff. A faction of the Justicialista Party of former Dictator Juan Peron has nominated him for President, and he is the dominant candidate, even though he is now 76 and has lived in exile for 17 years. Voters who remember the old days of free spending and populism under Peron are ready to vote for him in numbers large enough that the old dictator could conceivably wind up in power again.

If, that is, Peron is not outmaneuvered by the present government of President Alejandro Lanusse. Peron is trying to get his election bandwagon rolling from Madrid, without returning to Argentina for the campaign. "I can lead just as well from here," he says --and also remain above the current political chaos and economic setbacks in Buenos Aires. Then, too, there is the entirely reasonable fear that he might be assassinated if he returned home.

In a move designed to force Peron either to come home and face his opponents--and enemies--or to drop out of the race, President Lanusse recently decreed that all presidential candidates must be in the country by Aug. 25 and remain there until the election. Peron's passport has been revalidated, and Lanusse has offered to pay his fare if necessary. "Personally," says the President, "I feel he just hasn't got the guts."

So far, Peron was saying nothing.

But the surprise decree did seem to leave him with little choice but to renounce his candidacy, or else name a political heir--something he has always declined to do.

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