Revolution

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1071, 8 September 1930, Page 9

Revolution

FIGHTING IN ARGENTINA President In Prison MILITARY OVERTHROWS GOVERNMENT United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright BUENOS AYRES, Saturday. A REVOLUTION in Argentina today resulted in the overthrow of the Government and the arrest of the exPresident, Senor Hipolito Irigoyen, who resigned yesterday. Senor Irigoyen, who is in poor health, has been imprisoned in a barracks.

The Government was overthrown by the military forces after a sanguinary encounter with a little group of mounted policemen, in which about 15 persons were killed and 100 wounded. It is impossible to compile an accurate casualty list. The main engagement took place in the Avenida de Mayo in front of the office of the newspaper “L Epoca,” a Government organ which later was sacked and burned by a mob. The officers and crews of the naval vessels lying in Buenos Aires Harbour joined the army in the revolt against the regime of Senor Irigoyen, who had delegated his powers to the VicePresident Enrique Martinez. Admiral Storni, commanding a squadron of 13 warships, sent a Note to the Government announcing that the navy would fire no shots against its army colleagues led by General Jose Evaristo Uribiru. The Note was signed by all the officers of the squadron. UNDER MARTIAL LAW The entire navy, with its 7,000 officers and men, is said to have gone over to the revolutionaries. The people in the capital are nervous, but outwardly calm. Probably fourfifths of them are in the dark as to the significance of the fast-moving developments. The city is now under martial law. General Uribiru, who is a noted soldier, took charge of the Government and appointed a civilian Cabinet. He issued a proclamation stating that the country was under strict military law. OVATION TO URIBIRU General Jose Evaristo Uribiru, head of the military committee that seized control of the Government, and his Ministers, received the joyous ovation of thousands, while ex-President Irigoyen, who was arrested and then released, dropped from the scene entirely. His place of refuge is not revealed.

The capital is calm today after an exciting night, during which soldiers shot several looters. One marauder was shot in his tracks while robbing a shop. Two more who were discovered looting a store were lined up against a wall and summarily executed. Today, however, the capital is filled with happy, shouting peof*»»__ Airplanes flew over Govermnev dropping flowers on the multitudes. Uribiru is now Provisional President. It was learned that Irigoyen, after a fruitless attempt to embark on a steamer, surrendered at La Plata, a suburb of the capital, to the military commander. After exacting a pledge that his liberty would be respected, he signed his resignation from the Presidency.

The arrest of a number of prominent Irigoyenists has been ordered. The police state the total of dead

during tho Government turnover does not exceed 100, most of whom are victims of the Irigoyenist machine-gun-ners.

The revolution was far too popular for any concerted opposition. It was intimated that drastic changes would occur in the provincial Governments. General Uribiru indicated that the new Government would soon call for the election of new National Deputies and that it would seek to return the country to a normal constitutional basis as soon as possible. It is reported that at La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires, public demonstrations were held at which those present demanded the resignation of the Governor, Senor Crovetto.

General Uribiru, in another proclamation, decreed the execution by firing squads of violators of the new regime’s military law. Mobs poured into Government House after the surrender of tho Government forces, and ransacked the office and ripped pictures of Senor Irigoyen from the walls and burned them. REVOLUTION POPULAR Had Senor Irigoyen resigned a few days earlier, the clash would never have occurred, but once the students’ blood was spilled they made a spectacular march next day, presaging the overthrow of the Government. Ten thousand students, many of them high school boys in short trousers, and girls with their hair in braids down their backs, paraded the down-town streets with crepe tied to Argentina flags, and banners made from handkerchiefs dipped in the blood of a student who had been killed on Thursday night. The army, which in Argentina has only infrequently mixed in politics, was easily enlisted in the revolutionary movement because of a grude against Senor Irigoyen for recent promotions, which disregarded the routine of ranking and elevated officers who were known to be favourable to the ex-President’s party. KILLED FOR LOYALTY It was these officers who were quickly disarmed today, and two of them wen killed because they wished to remain loyal to the Government. Today's events show that Senor Irigoyen’s Radical Party, which at the last election gave him the greatest majority any President of Argentina ever received, is dead for the present at least. The provisional Government is made up of Conservative leaders. In this revolution—the first in Argentina for 40 years—the military forces have followed the lead of Bolivia and Peru in recent months. Military Governments now rule these Republics.