Perón, That Comblin – Folha de S. Paulo, July 30, 1972
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Another South American reader wrote me an interesting letter about my comments, published in this newspaper, on political events in our continent.
This time, the writer is Mr. Julio Ubbelohde, one of the directors of the brilliant and courageous Argentine Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property. The document on Perón in this letter is particularly impressive. I therefore consider it necessary to bring it to our readers’ attention, preceded by the writer’s comments.
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“I am very pleased to address you, sir—so well known for your firm stance against the overt and covert forms of communist aggression on our continent—to say that I fully agree with your predictions in the latest Folha de São Paulo article regarding the policies Perón will pursue if my homeland’s “Kerenskys” allow him to return to power.
“First of all, I would like to point out that your fears that General Lanusse would lift the freeze on the Argentine CGT’s bank accounts have already been confirmed. The President has unfrozen those accounts. Furthermore, I have in my hands a copy of the great Buenos Aires daily La Nación, dated the 26th of this month, which reports that the suspension of CGT’s union status, decreed on July 7, has been rescinded. Thus, two critical obstacles to the Peronists’ ability to work freely for the candidacy of the old dictator ensconced in Madrid have been removed.
“I should add that the general line of your thinking on Perón’s ideology is fully supported by his categorical statements to the Madrid magazine Triunfo on May 9, 1970, as transcribed by the Buenos Aires magazine Premissa on December 16 of the same year. Here are some excerpts from that interview:
Reporter: “In Cuba, Fidel relied on one superpower (Russia) to counter the other. Do you think other Latin American liberation movements could use this approach?”
Perón: “Absolutely, and perhaps if the Russians had been in a position to support us in 1955 (the year Perón was deposed), I would have been the continent’s first Fidel Castro.
Reporter: “What solution do you see for the situation?
Perón: “No people can … surrender to imperialism. Liberating the country, as Fidel did, is the solution. I believe this is what Peru and Bolivia are about to do. I don’t know under what conditions, but they are trying to do it.
Reporter:“Based on your experience since 1955, do you conclude that the only way to bring about the Argentine revolution is through violent means?
Perón: “There is no other remedy. Violence is enthroned and can be destroyed only by more violence.
Reporter: “Fidel destroyed the regime’s armed forces. What would you do?
Perón: “Except for a small sector, the Armed Forces did not oppose me. If I had decided to resist, I would not have faced obstacles in this area. However, I would have had to shoot many people, kill half a million Argentines, and destroy much of the country. I did not want to do that. … Who knows whether I would think differently today.
Reporter: “In that case, what would you have done?
Perón: “Ah! If I had foreseen what was going to happen, then yes, I would have shot half a million or even a million people, if necessary. Perhaps this will happen now. A revolutionary movement or civil war will rise against these stubborn people, and then a million people will die.
Reporter: “Today, do you agree with the disappearance of specific structures that could become counterrevolutionary, such as the Armed Forces, free enterprise, and capitalist-run parties?
Perón: “Yes, exactly. I completely agree. Today I have experience. I would not proceed in this way because of opinion but because of experience, since experience is the most effective part of wisdom.
Reporter: “There is also talk of a unilateral resumption of relations with Cuba.
Perón: “As for Cuba, the situation there needs to be resolved. Cuba is a country that has liberated itself and should immediately join the continental order of liberated countries, not the order of countries opposed to liberation.
Reporter: “Could the first step be the reestablishment of economic relations?
Perón: “All kinds of relations with Cuba. I consider this indispensable. Why should we continue treating a country that has achieved its liberation as if it were scabby? In reality, we are the ones with the scabs, not them. The first measure a free country should take toward Cuba is to reestablish all relations, both economic and non-economic.
“As you can see, Dr. Plinio, these words clearly demonstrate Perón’s radically leftist—not to say communist—mentality. There is no reason to believe this mentality has undergone any substantial change in the short span of two years. Indeed, Perón’s statements are entirely consistent with the line he has adopted throughout his public life. Perhaps, however, he has never expressed them with such blunt candor.
“A fact that concerns me as an Argentine and a Catholic comes to mind. In his first statement after taking office, my country’s new foreign minister, Mr. Mac Loughlin, suggested that Argentina may soon resume relations with Cuba unilaterally, regardless of the OAS’s decision.
“This shows how true it is that the Lanusse government—despite minor superficial disagreements—acts as a genuine vanguard of Peronism.”
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I have only one observation to add to this important information from the lucid and courageous director of the sister TFP: the strange analogy between Perón’s program and the infamous Father Comblin’s.
