Argentine Rebel Soldiers Surrender Camp

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina--President Raul Alfonsin announced yesterday he had obtained the surrender of dozens of armed rebel soldiers after meeting with their leader at the military base where they had been holed up for three days.

The mutineers and their leader, cashiered Lt. Col. Aldo Rico, were taken into custody from the infantry school at suburban Campo de Mayo, which they had occupied since Thursday, said Defense Minister Horacio Jaunarena.

Alfonsin, following his dramatic decision to meet personally with the rebels, said the mutineers would be "detained and processed" according to law.

Alfonsin, who had gone by helicopter to the military camp 19 miles west of Buenos Aires, then returned jubilantly to the capital.

"Compatriots! Happy Easter! The warned men have cased" their 72-hour mutiny, a beaming Alfonsin told 400,000 cheering people packed in Plaza de Mayo, the main square in downtown Buenos Aires.

"The house is in order and there is no blood in Argentina," he told the crowd.

The mutineers, who had been holding about 2,000 loyal government troops at bay at the Campo de Mayo military base, were demanding an amnesty for officers accused of human rights violations under previous military governments.

It could not be immediately determined if the rebel troops had actually left the base, but Alfonsin said they would.

"To avoid any shedding of blood, I have given instructions to the army commanders that they will not proceed with repression [firing at the rebel troops] and today we all give thanks to God," said Alfonsin at the Buenos Aires rally.

"I have asked the people who have been in Campo de Mayo to leave...and I ask all of you to return to your houses and kiss your children, to celebrate an Easter of peace in Argentina," he said.

Alfosin earlier flew by helicopter to the army base and said he met with the mutineers' leader, ex-Lt. Col. Aldo Rico, at a neutral site within the sprawling wooded compound.

Rico, 41, was cashiered Friday after taking over the base's infantry school.

Alfonsin, speaking to some 200,000 people from the balcony of Government House, had announced earlier Sunday he would go to the Campo de Mayo and meet with the rebels.

The revolt--the second military rebellion in four days--produced a deluge of popular support for Alfonsin's government, which was elected in 1983 to restore democracy after seven years of harsh military rule.