“No, Sir.”
“An elite force, like the Waffen-SS,” Grüner said.
“Really?”
Cletus was furious when I made that comparison.
“Like yourself, he is an aviator. His father introduced him at the Centro Naval—that’s the downtown officers’ club, used by both services, I will get you a guest membership—as a veteran of the Pacific, specifically Guadalcanal.”
“Interesting. What is he doing in Argentina, if I may ask? For that matter, how did he wind up in the American Army—”
“Marine Corps,” Grüner corrected him. “It is part of the U.S. Navy.”
“—excuse me, in the Marine Corps—if he’s an Argentinean?”
“His mother was an American. He was raised there. He has dual citizenship. I have an agent in Internal Security, a Comandante—Major—Habanzo. He showed me his dossier.”
“Fascinating. What did you say he’s doing here?”
“No one seems to know. He came ostensibly to make sure that American petroleum is not being diverted from here to Germany.”
“And obviously the Americans don’t like that.”
“No, of course they don’t. We managed to acquire some petroleum products here at the start of the war—at a great cost, I might add. But the Americans solved that problem early on by controlling the amount of petroleum they are willing to sell Argentina, and by applying diplomatic pressure. Meanwhile, the Argentines have a growing need for oil, so there is less and less available to us, no matter what we’re willing to pay for it.
“So, while it is possible that young Frade is here to make sure Germany is not buying American oil, I doubt it. That leaves several more likely possibilities. The most logical is that he is here to influence his father.”
Grüner stopped, and looked at Peter.
“The only way I can explain that is to deliver a lecture on Argentinean politics. I’d planned to do so in a day or two anyway. But why not now?”
“Please do, Herr Oberst.”
“Their politics are Byzantine. Or perhaps Machiavellian, or Spanish, or perhaps simply Argentinean. But certainly not democratic, as Northern Europeans understand the term. They have elections every once in a while—between takeovers of the government by military juntas. The election of the current president of Argentina was, by local standards, remarkably honest. The man’s name is Castilló—and he is quite sympathetic to Germany. But he has lost favor with the people, not in small part because of British influence here. The British built the Argentine rail system and the telephone network, and they trained their Navy. The Navy is therefore sympathetic to the British. German engineers built their dams and power stations, and we trained their Army. The Army is therefore pro-German—generally speaking, with certain specific exceptions.”
“I understand. I hope I understand.”
“It takes some getting used to. And the British do better with propaganda, frankly, than we do. That recent declaration, for example.”
“Sir?”
“Where they accused us of murdering hundreds of thousands of Jewish women and children.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Herr Oberst.”
“They put out a proclamation, in the name of the King, Stalin, the President of the United States, and even that ludicrous Frenchman, de Gaulle, charging Germany with murdering hundreds of thousands of Jews. An absolutely fantastic accusation, but one which got wide play in the local press, including, so help me, Die Freie Presse.” (The Freie Presse, a German-language newspaper, was then published daily in Buenos Aires.)
“I haven’t heard anything…”
“You were on the ship. I have a copy in the office, and I’ll let you read it. It’s absolutely outrageous. I can’t believe they actually thought anyone would believe a word of it, but unfortunately, many people seem to take the document seriously.
“Anyway, whether because of British propaganda or not, Castilló has lost much of his support. Thus, if the elections were held today, he would almost certainly lose. So he has naturally decided to ignore the results of the next election.”
“Can he get away with that?”
“If it weren’t for the G.O.U.—the Grupo de Oficiales Unidos—he probably could. But if El Presidente does not voluntarily relinquish power when he loses the election—or even if he wins it—the G.O.U. will almost certainly stage a coup d’état. And to anticipate your question, Peter, can they get away with that? Yes, I think they can. And so does the Bureau of Internal Security, I’m reasonably certain.”
“And that junta would not be pro-German, but pro-Allies?”