The unusual help Raúl Alfonsín got from Ronald Reagan to negotiate with the IMF

– “Mr. President, I want to introduce you to someone.”

– “Of course”.

Ronald Reagan took Raúl Alfonsín by the arm and led him to a corner of the Oval Office. Witnesses Dante Caputo, Foreign Minister, and Juan Sourrouille, Minister of the Economy. They had just finished the meeting with their teams where they ended up talking about the economy and the challenges that Argentina faces. Sourrouille had been tasked with presenting the challenges and needs faced by the region’s first democratic government after a military stint that began in the Southern Cone in the 1970s.

“You and your men here can count on him,” Reagan told him.

A few weeks later, Sourrouille would already ask him to communicate with him to begin laying the bricks of what would be the Southern Plain. Edwin Yeo stood between Reagan and Alfonsín inside the Oval Office. A former marine, he had been a director of Morgan Stanley and a few months ago he had been an advisor to the president of the New York Federal Reserve, Gerald Corrigan. He had also been Gerald Ford’s undersecretary to the Treasury, replacing Paul Volcker, with whom he was a friend. Volcker would be instrumental in helping Argentina’s economic team.

The end of that meeting, between Reagan and Alfonsín, had perhaps already been written. The country’s debt to large US banks was of such magnitude that Alfonsín could not fight with a US government close to Wall Street. However, the first meeting between the two presidents that day he had left his sparks in front of the correspondents.

When the Argentine delegation landed in Washington on April 18, 1985, they received the information that the meeting with Reagan would not only discuss political and economic issues between the two countries. International politics too. The next day, almost leaving the Madison Hotel where they were staying to go to the White House, Caputo was confirmed and told Alfonsín that Reagan would probably have pronounced the term. Freedom fighters (freedom soldiers) to defend the Washington-funded guerrillas that supported the overthrow of the socialist government of Nicaragua.

The Argentine president took one last look at his speech in the car. I was already prepared. During the drive, they pondered what to do now. Caputo and Sourrouille accompanied him.

“Argentina and the United States have a lot in common”Reagan began on the White House lawn. “Like North America, Argentine society is a border company. It has welcomed people from other parts with open arms, it is one of the oldest democracies in its hemisphere and was the first country on the continent to ban slavery ”. But then came what was known to all: ‘This trend, however, is now threatened by the Marxist-Leninists. In Nicaragua the majority are fighting for a true democracy, the communists have taken control of the main organs of power. Nicaraguans are acquiring the status of soldiers of freedom.

Alfonsín read his speech and since he did not share those last words of Reagan, improvised an end. “On the basis of the principle of non-intervention, democracy and the pluralism of democracy will triumph. Thus the freedom of men will be established ».

What in the eyes of many was ‘Alfonsín resisted Reagan’ for others was only a political reflection.

In favor of the latter, it is necessary to tell how the story continued a few hours later.

After the speeches and press photos, the delegations moved to the Oval Office. There was no access for reporters except for a photo. Alfonsin, Caputo and Sourrouille sat at one side of the table. On the other, Reagan together with the Secretary of the Treasury, James Baker; assistant treasury David Mulford; the chief councilor, Donald Regan, and the secretary of state, George Schultz.

Alfonsín exchanged a few words with Reagan to decompress the incident around the soldiers of freedom. They talked about human rights, justice and the military in Argentina. The Americans listened to him. There were only 34 countries with democracy, and Alfonsín was a recognized player for helping to swell that list. Also, at the initiative of the United States Congress and with the support of the White House, he was invited to speak in the United States Parliament the next day. There had been only 28 presidents in 24 years.

But after a while, Baker asked about the economy. The dollar in Argentina had risen 24% in the previous three weeks and inflation was 28% monthly. How would Argentina pay its debt?

“Oh no … Juan will talk about economics”Alfonsin replied.

Less than a month later, Yeo stayed at the Plaza Hotel in Buenos Aires. José Luis Machinea picked him up there and took him to the Economy. He would be launched the Austral Plan.