[SANITIZED]LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS: STAFF NOTES APRIL 7, 1976 - 1978/01/27

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Argentina Declassification Project - The "Dirty War" (1976-83)
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06628140
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: April 3, 2019
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2019
• Publication Date: January 27, 1978

Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
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Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
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Latin American Trends
STAFF NOTES
3.5(c)
,Se
-Secret-
14 4
No. 0694-76
April 7, 1976
Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2018/10/02 C06628140
SE ET
LATIN AMERICAN TRENDS
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Western Hemisphere Division, Office of Current Intelligence,
with occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
IntAigence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
CONTENTS
April 7, 1976
P
Argentina: The Junta's Economic Plan
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Argentina: The Junta's Economic Plan
Argentina's new economic plan is an invitation
to domestic business and agriculture as well as foreign
capital to line up behind the military junta. It is,
however, a direct challenge to labor, which stands to
lose its privileged position as the junta moves to re-
store economic order.
Economy Minister Martinez de Hoz described the
program, the product of months of work, in a lengthy
public address late last week. It calls for expansion
of the private sector and a decrease of the state's role
in economic activity. Some specific proposals provide
for cuts in federal spending, tax breaks and other in-
centives for industry and agriculture, and measures to
attract foreign capital.
The minister's sober presentation was designed to
educate Argentines to specific ills resulting from poor
planning and unbridled greed, and all susceptible to
solution. The new plan is a bold attack on virtually
all the problems at once. Some measures, notably free-
ing the foreign exchange rate, are already in effect.
The junta seeks to demonstrate that it will act
quickly and comprehensively on the all-important economic
front. The generals are clearly betting that they can
produce an early, demonstrable success, for the benefit
of both potential critics at home and prospective credi-
tors and investors abroad.
Though not so presented, the new program constitutes
a categorical negation of all aspects of Peronist eco-
nomics. Wage limits and permission to raise prices as
needed will check the ascendancy of organized labor, long
the mainstay of Peronism. Cuts in federal spending are
April 7, 1976
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to trim the bureaucracy--long a source of Peronist
patronage. Downgrading the role of the state in
economic production is exemplified by the invitation
to private firms to become more active in the energy
exploration and development. The repeal of laws
inhibiting foreign investment also runs counter to
the Peronists' tendency to hew to a nationalistic
line in this area.
While organized labor has the potential to dis-
rupt the military's plans, the officers have taken
steps to ensure compliance with their policies. Top
labor leaders are under arrest or in exile; the major
labor confederation and important labor unions are
under government control. All strikes are illegal and
stiff penalties face those who disrupt essential
services or productive activities. The armed forces,
alert to the possibility of leftist-inspired or other
concerted opposition within labor, appear fully pre-
pared to respond with force to provocations by workers.
April 7, 1976
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