Why did Argentina and Chile keep on switching standard time zones back and forth every once in a while between their geographically "right" time zones (respectively, 4 and 5 hours behind Greenwich) and the "wrong" time zones that are one hour ahead (respectively, 3 and 4 hours behind Greenwich) before deciding ultimately on the latter? Were there political and/or economic reasons behind these decisions? (After all, neighbouring countries like Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil fall under the geographically "right" time zones.)
I think the following might go a long way to answering my own question: Having looked over the history of time zones and daylight savings time in both Argentina and Chile on timeanddate.com, it seems to me that the time zone changes in Argentina in 1946 and in 1969 from -4 to -3 were done at the whims of no less than Juan Peron in 1946 and one or two dictators in 1969 (with Peron "aggravating" that situation in 1974). (In Argentina, the time zone was changed back to -4 in 1963, only to revert to -3 in 1969.) As for Chile, it seems that it changed its time zone from -5 to -4 in 1947 to bring it somewhat more in line with what Argentina decided on in 1946. (In the early-mid 1940s, both Argentina and Chile seem to have waffled between different time zones before settling on the respective ones closer to Greenwich.) I guess all of that makes sense?