"Once the decision was reached to try to overthrow the government, I would think it would take a minimum of two weeks to coordinate everything and issue the execution order."
"That quickly?"
"That is my opinion, mi Almirante. It could be longer. Three weeks or a month. Any coup would require that all military and naval bases all over the country be part of the coup, or that they be neutralized."
"For the sake of argument, Bernardo, let's say the decision to proceed was made at the Estancia Santo Catalina meeting. You're saying that the attempt could not be made before"-he consulted his desk calendar-"the twenty-eighth of this month?"
"At the absolute minimum, mi Almirante. If such a decision was made over the weekend. And I would really think it would take longer than two weeks, which would move any such action into the first week in May."
"You would stake your professional reputation on that?"
"I stake my professional reputation whenever I present something I know to be a fact. What I just said is an opinion, nothing more."
"Calling in all your sources, Coronel, could you find out, as a fact, if the decision to attempt to overthrow the government was made at the Estancia Santo Catalina meeting, and if so, when?"
"That's two questions, mi Almirante. Within, say, three or four days, I should be able to tell you, as a fact, if the decision to go ahead has been made or not. I would have had that information in that time frame in any case. The second question, when, is more difficult. My sources may not be privy to that information. If they are not, it would certainly take more time to obtain it. Pre-suming it could be obtained at all."
Montoya obviously was not pleased with the reply.
"That's the best you can do?"
"'I'm afraid so, mi Almirante."
"Presidente Castillo won't be pleased when I tell him that," Montoya said. "If you had additional funds, would that speed things up?"
"Additional funds probably would."
"Spend whatever you have to," Montoya said. "The country is in a crisis. This is no time to economize. But bring back information I can take to el Pres-idente!"
"Did el Presidente give you any idea how he plans to deal with the situa-tion, mi Almirante?"
"He didn't discuss that with me, Coronel. Possibly because he believes I am familiar with the penalties the law provides for treason."
"What I meant to ask, mi Almirante, is whether Presidente Castillo plans to alert the Army-or certain Army officers he believes loyal to him-to the pos-sibility of a coup. Or the Polic¡a Federal."
"He did not discuss any of that with me," Montoya said. "But there are a number of officers whose loyalty to el Presidente is beyond question, and I'm sure he has had discussions along these lines with them."
"If that's all, mi Almirante?"
"That's all. I expect to be kept fully abreast of any developments, Bernardo."
"S¡, Se¤or," Mart¡n said, saluted, and left Montoya's office.
[TWO]
Office of the Minister of War
Edificio Libertador
Avenida Paseo Colon
Buenos Aires
0950 15 April 1943
"The question, Martin, it seems to me," Teniente General Pedro P. Ramirez said, "is whether Montoya accepted your claim that it would take two weeks to execute Outline Blue from the time we give the order." "I believe he did, Se¤or," Mart¡n answered.
The door opened and el Coronel Juan Domingo Per¢n passed through it, saluted Ramirez, and then stood at attention.