202/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
especially with the US. The dictatorship would not have been able to
sustain the initial years of domestic terror (1976-80) without the
blessing of the US administration.
For its part, the US Federal Reserve was all the more favourably
inclined to the dictatorship's policies since most of the borrowed
money was deposited in US banks. From the point of view of the US
administration and the IMF, Argentina's growing debt load was
bringing the country back into the US fold - after decades during
which Argentina had been something of a nationalist rebel and
achieved real economic progress within the framework of the
Peronist system.
Private Sector Debt
Private Argentinian companies and Argentinian subsidiaries of
foreign MNCs were also encouraged to amass debt. Private debt rose
to more than S14 billion.
Conflicts of Interest
Walter Klein was Secretary of State for Economic Coordination and
Planning from 1976 until March 19 81. At the same time, he headed
a private legal firm that represented the interests of foreign creditors
in Buenos Aires. When he joined the military regime, his firm
represented the interests of one bank, the Scandinavian Enskilda
Bank. A few years later, it represented the interests of 22 foreign
banks. In March 19 81, he left his government ] ob as General Viola was
replacing General Videla at the head of the dictatorship. A few weeks
later - 7 April 1982, five days after the Argentinian armed forces had
occupied the Malvinas (Falkland Islands) and Britain had declared
war - Klein was made the official representative in Buenos Aires of the
British-based Barclays Bank Limited, one of the main private holders
of Argentinian public and private debt. When the dictatorship fell and
Raul Alfonsin came to power in 1984, his legal firm continued in its
role as defender of the interests of foreign creditors.
After the Military Dictatorship: Alfonsin and Impunity
The central bank announced that it had no record of public foreign
debt. Indeed, post-dictatorship government officials have had to rely