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5 All Regimes Are Legitimate The IMF’s Relations with Democracies and Dictatorships, 1973–1982 T he joint working routine between Argentina and the IMF has had many ups and downs. The fluctuations in the relationship in general, and the occasional episodes of detachment in particular, were most often initiated by Argentina. Contrary to the IMF’s enduring image as an inflexible body, an examination of the intimate aspects of the relations between the parties suggests that the IMF has been ready and willing to compromise to retain its influence in Argentina’s economy. This has held true not only for governments that have been sympathetic to the Fund, but also for administrations that have opposed the routine of dependency, as in the case of President Arturo Illia. This chapter delves deeply into the fluctuations in the dependency relations between the IMF and Argentina, during a singular period in the region’s and the country’s contemporary history. From the late 1960s to the 1980s, several Latin American countries underwent parallel political and economic processes, in which democratically elected leftist administrations that aspired to reverse the course of IMF-backed liberalization were overthrown by violent military dictators who resumed and intensified the implementation of neoliberal policies. This pattern, which was observable, among others, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay, significantly affected the ties with the IMF. In addition, this period was marked by the eruption of the debt crisis in 1982, which hit most Latin American nations and, ironically, paved the road to the most massive regional intervention ever by the IMF. In Argentina, this period began with the arrival of Juan D. Perón in Buenos Aires on November 17, 1972, after eighteen years of exile. During his brief stay in Argentina, Perón founded the Frente Justicialista de Liberación (FREJULI), a multipartisan front led by the Peronist party that encompassed proponents of Frondizi’s developmentalism, Christian Democrats, populist conservatives, 120 Chapter 5 former Socialist Party and Radical Civic Union members, and several provincial parties. Perón and Alejandro Lanusse then negotiated Argentina’s return to democratic rule.1 Because Perón was banned from running in the general elections of March 11, 1973, he chose Héctor Cámpora, a left-wing Peronist, and Vicente Solano Lima, a member of the Popular Conservative Party, as FREJULI’s candidates for president and vice-president.2 In the first round, FREJULI won 49.5 percent of the votes, while Ricardo Balbín, the Radical Civic Union’s candidate, trailed far behind, with 21.2 percent .3 In light of the huge gap, the radicals bailed out of the second round, and FREJULI was proclaimed the winner.4 A day after the elections, Perón declared, “We all have one goal in common, and it is called the homeland (patria).”5 However, the “Montoneros,” the most radical wing of the Peronist movement, did not heed Perón’s call to stop the armed struggle. Between the elections and May 25, when Cámpora entered the Casa Rosada, the number of terrorist attacks increased daily. Perón vainly tried to stop the violence from Madrid; on June 20, 1973, he returned to Argentina for good. The period known as the late Perón era was marked by government instability and incompetence. President Cámpora held the reins for only seven weeks; new elections were held in July 1973. FREJULI won an overwhelming majority of 61.9 percent of the votes. Between July 13 and October 12, Raúl Lastiri, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies and a FREJULI member affiliated with the conservative Peronist factions, officiated as interim president. In October 1973, Lastiri delivered the government to Perón and to his vice-president, María Estela Martínez de Perón (Isabel or Isabelita), Perón’s third wife. When Perón died from an illness in July 1974 at seventy-eight, he was succeeded as president by Isabel. A leadership vacuum formed, however, that eventually was filled by José López Rega, then the minister of welfare and a cabinet secretary. Notorious for his fascist ideology, López Rega established the paramilitary secret organization the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A) in November 1973, which kidnapped and murdered hundreds of leftist militants . Under these tragic circumstances, Isabel rescheduled the general elections for October 1976. By late 1975, though, her days were clearly numbered. On March 24, 1976, a military coup installed a dictatorial regime that remained in power until...

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