Another general takes control of a defeated country
For a nation nursing the wounds of war, the inauguration of a new President offered no cause for revelry. The brief, dour ceremony only provided a grim reminder of the instability that has long plagued Argentina: in the presidential palace, Casa Rosada, retired Major General Reynaldo Bignone, 54, was sworn in as the seventh President of the military regime that seized power six years ago.
Bignone took office vowing to return the country to civilian rule by March 1984. His choice of a Cabinet, nine civilians and only one military officer, appeared to...