Office of the Historian

835.00/2388: Telegram

The Ambassador in Argentina (Armour) to the Secretary of State

Buenos Aires, February 25, 1944—4 p.m.
[Received 7 p.m.]

533. It appears fairly clear that Ramírez58 actually resigned last night. It also seems clear that his action was taken under compulsion. Several morning papers which appeared about 2 o’clock in fact announced resignation. The change from “resignation” to “delegation of the Presidential mandate” to Farrell59 apparently came about after Silgueíra, Minister of Justice and lawyer of long experience, interviewed Ramírez in company with Farrell and Perón.60 Police visited newspaper offices around 3 a.m. and instructed them to be careful not to carry any mention of “resignation” and both Perón and new Chief of Police61 shortly thereafter took pains to inform press that President needed rest and had merely delegated his authority to Vice President. It is significant that from 2 to 8:30 a.m., telegraph and radio companies were under orders of Post Office not to transmit any message “abroad or within the country private in nature or diplomatic referring to internal and international politics”. Says [said] instruction applied to international telephone calls during above hours.

In other words Farrell and his group are attempting to avoid having question of recognition presented. This seems further confirmed by Perón’s statement at press conference this morning to effect [Page 253] that he did not think it was necessary for Farrell to take an oath for he was already sworn in, nor did he think there would be any Cabinet changes.

President’s downfall is unquestionably due to his new attempt to assert himself along lines mentioned in my number 517, February 24, 6 p.m.62 Situation is tense and further developments may be expected. In spite of Perón’s statement, there has already apparently been one Cabinet change since we have been informed by a Foreign Office official that Sueyro,63 Ramírez’s closest adviser in Cabinet, presented his resignation this morning.

We are attempting to secure, if possible from Ramírez himself, true story of his “abdication” but I think Department will agree that circumstantial evidence clearly points to another coup d’état, this time presenting us with clear issue as to continuance of official relations with new setup which has taken over, when all is said and done—as result of refusal to follow Government in its decision to implement break in relations.

I feel Department should consider whether we should not take position along somewhat following lines “that, as in case of Bolivian coup,64 purely legalistic forms and tests cannot be followed with continental security et cetera, at stake; that aside from whether or not a legal succession from Ramírez to Farrell has been established, (this will be dealt with in separate telegram) our Government and we hope Governments of the other American Republics, propose to follow procedure initiated by Political Defense Committee at Montevideo,65 namely to examine all circumstances surrounding withdrawal of Ramírez and as result of this examination then to decide what our relationship should be with the new lineup here. Should Farrell’s government be placed in same category as that of Villarroel66 by other American Republics and Great Britain, this would not only make its continuance difficult but would certainly encourage internal elements in opposition to it.

Unless we act promptly and decisively in concert with other American Republics, present regime can be expected to intensify its efforts to foment similar movements in other Republics. Should Farrell be able to survive under procedure proposed, we must face possibility that he will then redouble such efforts in order not to remain completely isolated.

[Page 254]

Repeated to Rio, Santiago, Montevideo and Lima. Paraphrase to Asunción by courier.

Armour
  1. For correspondence on the United States position with respect to the regime of Gen. Pedro P. Ramírez, see pp. 228 ff.↩
  2. Gen. Edelmiro Farrell, Minister of War and Vice President.↩
  3. Col. Juan Domingo Perón, Director of the Department of Labor.↩
  4. Col. Filomeno Velasco.↩
  5. Not printed.↩
  6. Adm. Benito Sueyro, Minister of Marine, was Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs, as reported to the Department by Ambassador Armour on February 17 (835.002/342).↩
  7. See correspondence on United States recognition of the revolutionary junta in Bolivia, pp. 427 ff.↩
  8. For correspondence on activities of this Committee, see pp. 1 ff.↩
  9. Maj. Gualberto Villarroel, Head of the Bolivian Governing Junta.↩