The expected return of Peronist leadership to Argentina is causing shockwaves to ripple through the large and important Jewish community here.
Many non-Jews as well view with deep concern the possible election Sunday of Carlos Menem, the Peronist candidate, as president of the nation.
Menem is the front-runner in a field of several candidates that also includes Eduardo Angeloz of incumbent President Raul Alfonsin’s Radical Civil Union.
Jorge Rubin Matzkin, the only Jewish Peronist deputy in Argentina’s Congress, is a highly respected moderate voice in a party that many fear has authoritarian leanings. He attempted to allay these fears in an interview last year with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Matzkin, an economic specialist with close ties to Menem, insisted that the Peronist movement, which he called the largest in South America, has “profound democratic convictions” and a strong aversion to anti-Semitism. He also was certain that relations with Israel would be unchanged, should his leader win.
According to the deputy, Menem has met with Jewish officials in Buenos Aires and would welcome such an exchange with American Jewish leaders. Matzkin also pointed out that the province of Chubut, in southern Argentina, has a Jewish Peronist governor, Nestor Perl.
But apprehensions persist. Manuel Tenenbaum, director of the Latin American Jewish Congress, indicated that no one is certain there will not be a return to authoritarian rule.
EXTREMES OF RIGHT AND LEFT
“Menem’s entourage,” he said, “embraces extremes of the right and the left, and if he wins the election,” the Palestine Liberation Organization “may finally gain a stronghold in Argentina.”
“Many of us, Jew and non-Jew alike, are convinced that the democracy initiated by President Alfonsin has been critically weakened by the ever-growing foreign debt and our economic crisis,” he said.
Inflation in Argentina today exceeds 40 percent a month.
Veteran journalist Werner Finkelstein provided a slightly different viewpoint. “I don’t see that we have a Jewish problem per se,” he said. “Our economic and political survival is a concern of the entire Argentine middle class.”
“I don’t think that our position with Israel will change, no matter which party triumphs,” he said. “And as far as relations between the Jewish and Arab communities here are concerned, they are quite cordial and should remain so.
“What is fatal for all of us is the ongoing combination of bureaucracy and incompetence,” he said.
Ambassador Ephraim Tari, the genial Israeli envoy here, declared that there is some progress in economic exchanges between the two nations. Argentine officials, he said, have a respect for Israel’s economic stability and its “knowhow.”
A commission including representatives of the Foreign Office and various ministries went to Jerusalem last June to study Israel’s latest technological and economic advances.
Jacobo Fiterman, a prominent Jew and secretary of public works for Buenos Aires, said he believes “Menem has much respect for us Jews. And many people here give us credit for more influence than we really have.”
Referring to the current difficulties, he said, “Our overriding concern is to save the economic situation. And whether we are Jews or not, we all need time to ensure that our fledgling democracy works.”
What the real impact of Sunday’s elections on Argentina’s Jewish community will be is difficult to determine, for this is a country of contradictions and surprises.
Along Calle Florida, the lively pedestrian mall in downtown Buenos Aires, the joyous strains of Hava Nagilah were heard one day recently.
The source of the music turned out to be five Indian boys from Argentina’s northwest performing on their hand-carved instruments as blithe and infectious a rendition of the Jewish melody as one could ever hope to hear.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
