Some of the lamps of freedom, extinguished by dictators, are being relighted in Latin America.

Last Friday the first issue of the liberated La Prensa was published. Stolen by former dictator Juan D. Peron and turned over to the General Federation of Labor, his political mainstay, the paper became a sycophantic organ of the regime.

On its resumption as a free newspaper, La Prensa said over the pen of Dr. Alberto Gainza Paz, its owner and editor, who escaped arrest by fleeing to exile in the United States:

“. . . La Prensa must follow its traditional policy: To fight for consolidation of democratic liberty. . . . To try to make sure that the (Argentine) people have freedom to inform themselves, to educate themselves, to work, to feel and think, to elect their own government, will become again our daily concern.”

In Brazil last week, President Juscelino Kubitschek made one of his first official acts the listing of press censorship imposed with a state of siege in the troubled times that followed the deposition of the late President Getullio Vargas 16 months ago. [Getúlio Dornelles Vargas]

Both these events are cause for rejoicing. But amidst the jubilation comes a faint voice via an Italian magazine, the voice of the deposed Peron. Poor fellow. It seems his fate was the result of a conspiracy, a deep dark one, like Mossadegh, the unsung ex-premier of Iran to whom he likened himself, Peron was ousted because of an oil war between Britain and United States, plus the Vatican. Well, that’s being impartial in naming your detractors, but somehow Peron’s plaints fails to strike a sympathetic chord. Guess we can’t see his point because the light from the lamps of rekindled freedom blinds us.