Special to the JTA PLO Operates Openly in Argentina and is Seeking Diplomatic Status

The Palestine Liberation Organization was heavily engaged in churning out anti-Semitic propaganda before last month’s Congressional elections, and is openly active here. But one goal still eludes it: the diplomatic status enjoyed by the PLO in Argentina’s neighbor to the north, Brazil.

Ephraim Tari, Israel’s new Ambassador in Buenos Aires, told this reporter that the government of President Raul Alfonsin will not grant the PLO such status, and that “assurances have been given at the highest level to this effect.” He said the government is fully aware of the terrorist nature of PLO chief Yasir Arafat’s henchmen, and yet, Jewish officials in this imposing metropolis, where some 200,000 Jews reside, point out that the PLO operates openly and with impunity from its offices at 610 Paraguay Street, in the heart of the city.

Farid Suwan, director of the PLO in Brazil, and a charismatic figure, has made seven trips to Buenos Aires, and on his most recent visit, held a press conference assailing Israel. It is reported that the PLO has made a substantial financial contribution to the head of Argentina’s combined labor movement, the CGT (Conferacion General de Trabajo).

ARGENTINA UTILIZING ISRAELI KNOW-HOW

Still, Tari is hoping for better relations than exists presently, between the two countries. Advances were being made, he said, in developing stronger economic and cultural relations. He noted that Argentina was making use of Israeli know-how in soil reclamation techniques and he would like his country to find a market here for its industrial products.

He declared that “official sources” had confirmed that Alfonsin would journey to Israel in 1986, and that such a visit “would mark a step forward” in bi-lateral relations.

SEVEN JEWISH DEPUTIES IN CONGRESS

Before the Congressional elections, in which Alfonsin’s Radical Party scored a fairly impressive victory, rightist opponents had rechristened his party as the “radical synagogue.” There are seven Jewish national Deputies of the Radical Party in Congress, and three of the Peronista Party, but these lawmakers, as well as several highly-placed officials in the government, appear to be Jews in name only, and have no direct contact with the Jewish community.

Marcelo Stubrin, 34, the leading candidate in Alfonsin’s party, and a Jew, was easily elected to Congress, and it is rumored that he may run for the governorship of Buenos Aires province in an upcoming election.

ACCUSED OF DUAL LOYALTY

But one Jewish politician who has very close ties with his people is Osvaldo Camisar, a Peronista national Deputy for Salta, a picturesque city in the Andes mountains, in the northwest corner of Argentina, close to the Bolivian frontier. Camisar, also in his thirties, is a recent past president of the Jewish community of Salta.

He recalled that when he was elected two years ago, he was attacked on the floor of Congress for his Zionist beliefs. The rightists alluded to an interview he had given in which he said that Judaism and Zionism were opposite sides of the same coin. He was bluntly informed by some fellow deputies that he could not be a Zionist and an Argentinian.

PREDICTS OUTCOME OF TRIALS

When asked about the trial of the nine Generals and Admirals (three of whom had been Presidents of the nation) on charges relating to the tragic fate of the “desparacidos,” those Argentinians, including a substantial number of Jews, who had either been imprisoned and tortured, or exterminated by the prior military regime, Camisar provided a forecast of the verdict, which he said should be handed down before the end of the year.

He predicted that six of the men on trial would be stripped of military rank and sentenced to life imprisonment, and the remaining three would be imprisoned for 20 years. “The people of Argentina will support such a verdict,” he said. “One cannot become a true democracy in two or three years,” he added, “but I believe we are making considerable progress in that direction.”

In his view, there is less anti-Semitism than formerly, because of increasing dialogue between Catholics and Jews, and the aim of Argentine Jewry is “to achieve integration without assimilation.”

In his travels around the country, from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata, Mendoza, Tucuman, Salta and Cordoba, this reporter had occasion to see the various tightly-organized Jewish communities in action. Local Jewish officials seem vigorously determined to maintain and expand Jewish services despite slightly dwindling memberships. In relation to their national government, the Jews of Argentina appear to be aware of an emergent, liberal democracy, after the eight year nightmare that ended in 1983 with the election of Alfonsin.