"Quando o inimigo te abraça com entusiasmo...": etnografia de uma traiçãoIn this work, the authors propose an analysis of events surrounding the 1995 electoral defeat of the incumbent Justicialista Party in an Argentinean town. Party leaders and activists blamed the defeat on betrayal by members from another internal section of the party alleged to have voted for opposition candidates. The authors examine the meaning of this accusation and attempt to determine the reasons why responsibility for the defeat was attributed in essence to two men. Their analysis concentrates on the forms of confidence which form the basis of social relationships subsequently ruptured by allegations of betrayal. This leads into an analysis of the Peronist concept of loyalty, a concept which appears to constitute an underlying symbol of the confidence cementing the relationships between members of the party. The analysis is ethnographic, deriving its primary material from participant-observation, and takes as its axis the varied and mutable perspectives of the actors - not as self-explanatory elements, but as material rendered intelligible when placed in theoretical contexts.