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- <text id=90TT3359>
- <title>
- Dec. 17, 1990: The "Painted Faces" Lose Face
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1990
- Dec. 17, 1990 The Sleep Gap
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 39
- ARGENTINA
- The "Painted Faces" Lose Face
- </hdr>
- <body>
- <p>By decisively putting down a military revolt, Menem saves the
- day--and a Bush visit as well
- </p>
- <p> President Carlos Saul Menem was still awake in the
- presidential palace at 3 a.m., following a late dinner with
- friends, when aides informed him that rebel soldiers had
- stormed army headquarters in downtown Buenos Aires, just a
- cannon shot away. The insurgents had also seized the nearby
- coast-guard building and three other installations. For Menem
- the timing could hardly have been worse. He knew that if he did
- not act fast, George Bush, who was in the midst of a South
- American goodwill tour, was likely to cancel his visit to
- Argentina--to the deep embarrassment of Menem and his
- countrymen.
- </p>
- <p> Two days later, Bush arrived on schedule, and his one-day
- visit became a celebration of Menem's victory over the rebels.
- Though the uprising had left as many as 22 dead and 50 wounded,
- forces loyal to the Argentine President had suppressed it with
- relative ease.
- </p>
- <p> In a rousing address before the Argentine legislature, Bush,
- who also traveled to Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela
- during his six-day southern swing, congratulated his host. Said
- he: "The events of Monday only strengthened my resolve to come
- to Argentina and stand shoulder to shoulder with President
- Menem. The message is clear. The day of the dictator is dead."
- </p>
- <p> The uprising, Argentina's fourth in as many years, came at
- a critical moment in Menem's 17-month-old presidency. His
- sure-handed response to the rebellion was expected to
- strengthen his political position and give him a fresh chance
- to deal forcefully with his faltering economy. Despite
- ambitious plans for slimming the public sector and selling off
- money-losing state companies, Menem can claim credit for few
- accomplishments. His privatization program is bogged down, and
- inflation could reach 1,500% for 1990.
- </p>
- <p> Compared with such problems, the uprising by the
- carapintadas, or "painted faces"--so named for the
- greasepaint that has become a recurring rebel trademark--was
- a quickly resolved affair. After Menem ordered the army to
- retake the captured military facilities, loyalists and rebels
- exchanged small-arms fire for the better part of a day. Cars
- and buses in the combat zone were riddled with bullet holes.
- Eventually Menem told the mutineers at army headquarters that
- if they did not surrender, he would order the building bombed.
- Shortly afterward they gave up.
- </p>
- <p> Referring to Argentina's succession of military uprisings,
- Menem called for an end to "these ridiculous antics that have
- hurt the country so much." He vowed that the 300 or so rebels
- would be tried for insurrection and implied that he would seek
- the death penalty for their leaders. As the insurgents were led
- away from army headquarters, a crowd chanted, "To the wall!"--meaning that the rebels should be lined up against a wall
- and shot. While there was no guarantee that a military minority
- would not try again to overthrow Argentina's fragile democracy,
- Menem had reason to be cheered by the support his actions had
- elicited from both his countrymen and his allies.
- </p>
- <p>By Michael S. Serrill. Reported by John Moody/Buenos Aires.
- </p>
- </body>
- </article>
- </text>
-
-