VIOLA'S FUTURE - 1981/12/02

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06627124
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: December 2, 1981

TO
FROM :
SUBJECT:
Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627124
OPTIONAL FORM NO.
JUkec,1073ECMWN
W1AFPMR(41CFR)1151-11A5
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
Memorandum
Political Files
Amembassy Buenos Aires
CONFIDENTIAL
POL - Townsend B. Friedman
Viola's Future
Confidential - Entire Text.
DATE: December 2, 1981
CIA HAS NO OBJECTION TO
DECLASSIFICATION AND/OR RELEASE
OF THIS DOCUMENT DATE: 09-14-2018
Two conversations today are worthy of note.
An Argentine source who I believe is an intimate friend
of Minister Liendo told me that Liendo told him earlier
this week that:
1) Both ex-President Videla and General Galtieri asked
Viola to resign. On both occasions Viola refused.
2) That the economic decisions taken by the government
over the weekend were not cleared with the Junta before-
hand.
3) That Viola is going to return to the presidency.
My source also stated that several weeks ago Liendo
offered Galtieri his resignation but Galtieri did not
accept it. Liendo expects to stay on as Minister of the
Interior and will not accept any other military commands.
Viola and Liendo have support among the colonels. In a
test with Galtieri, Liendo and Viola can count on the
support of Generals Villareal, Bussi and Martinez, among
others (the list sounded like the rumored list of generals
that Galtieri reputedly had slated for retirement before
Viola's illness). My source confirmed that Bussi and
Liendo are intimate friends. The source added too that
Liendo has maintained to him that he and Viola have
considerable support in the Navy. Liendo noted that many
in the Navy would not be happy with the idea of Galtieri
taking over the presidency and staying on as Army CINC.
CONFIDENTIAL
XDS-4 12/3/01 (Friedman, T.B.) OR-P
Buy U.S. Savings Bonds Regularly on the Payroll Savings Plan
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CONFIDENTIAL 9
The source praised the economic measures that Liendo
has taken. He added that Liendo is a man with considerable
political support -- especially among organized labor which
remembers favorably his period as Labor Minister. He
noted that the GOA was now preparing a 307 wage increase
to build more support. -
I also met today with presidential adviser Romero Feris.
Feris is at the outer edge of the President's inner circle,
a position he admits to indirectly. Feris said:
1) The President would be returning to the presidency,
perhaps as early as next week. While I was in Feris' office
he spoke to Col. Torres who, he told me, stated that the
President is much improved. According to Feris, the
President is now receiving a limited number of visitors and
is being kept fully informed about what is happening.
Earlier in his illness he was shut off from all news.
2) Galtieri will not try to force the President to resign
if the President does not want to. Feris made this estimate
on the basis of secondhand accounts of what ex-President
Videla reportedly told a friend. Feris added that any such
attempt by Galtieri would plunge this country into a
political quagmire -- "We would become like Bolivia,
changing presidents every six months." (The Bolivian image
is often used these days by those who oppose ousting the
President against his will.)
3) Feris said he did not know if the economic measures
were approved by the Junta before they were announced.
But he said they were absolutely necessary fpr a government
which has become almost without political support.
4) The President has been advised by some to go to the
U.S. but he has refused. Feris said the political impli-
cations of such travel were too serious. Moreover, he
said, it would reflect badly on Argentine medicine.
cc: AMB ARA/SC/Argentina
DCM INR/IAA/SA
POL-4 INR/IL
DAO
MILGP
Drafted:A/POL:TBFriedman:gbm
12/2/81 x220
CONFIDENTIAL
Approved for Release: 2018/09/17 C06627124