Man of Action

When he surprised the world by ordering Argentine troops to seize the Falkland Islands two weeks ago, President Leopoldo Fortunate Galtieri, 55, enhanced his image at home as a bold and decisive leader. It was a daring stroke by a man who has some times been underestimated by his countrymen. During the ill-fated administration of Eduardo Viola, Galtieri quietly engineered the "retirement" of two rival generals and replaced them with men loyal to him self. The move assured Galtieri's path to the presidency last December. A military man who states his views explicitly with few ifs, ands or buts, Galtieri has been compared to U.S. General George S. Patton and former Argentine President Juan Peron, with whom he shares a fondness for addressing large crowds from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace.

Born into a working-class family near Buenos Aires, Galtieri studied at the Argentine Military College. As he rose through the ranks, he became known as a "soldier's soldier" who commanded respect and loyalty among his men. An impressive figure standing ramrod straight at 6 ft. 2 in., Galtieri enjoys a reputation in Washington as tough and shrewd. He is considered a potentially warm ally of the U.S., where he studied army engineering in 1960-61. Despite his credentials as a political hard-liner and staunch antiCommunist, Galtieri was not directly identified with the political oppression that engulfed the country after the over throw of Isabelita Peron in 1976, resulting in the disappearance of more than 6,000 opponents of the regime.

Galtieri has remained more committed to attempting to revive Argentina's crippled economy than to restoring democracy. As Commander in Chief of the army, a post he still holds along with the presidency and membership in the three-man junta, he once boasted that "the ballot boxes are well stored away and they will remain well stored away." Politicians, in Galtieri's view, often stand in the way of Argentina's ambitions. Says he: "We don't want to be a country. We want to be a great country. The Argentine problem is that there hasn't been a political solution in 50 years."

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