What’s the current situation in Argentina like?

Just got back from BA, Bariloche, and Villa Carlos Paz near Cordoba (visited for the holidays; my wife grew up in Barrio Norte, across the street from the Israeli Embassy the Iranians leveled. She lived there in the 70's and 80's). However, we were last there back in December, 2001. Yep - fleeing tear gas and rioters pushing a pram not from the Obelisk.

But, Retiro is now....horrible. And, never in my life did I think I'd be stepping over homeless people in BA in the better areas. Many of the people we spoke too said things feel much like 2000, but with differences, because nobody really is all that eager to jump back in bed with the leftists.

What's your latest read on Argentina...or would you mind directing me to further reading or reports on the situation?
Interesting though, because this time as with the last in the outer areas such as Bariloche it was as happy as could be, though everybody was certainly watching the value of the peso quite intently.

-Greg

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Hi Greg, thanks for your message.

Unfortunately you don’t fix 60 years of Peronism with four years of President Mauricio Macri.
The poverty, the corruption, the disastrous economy and weak industry, the collapsed infrastructure and education, its endemic and wont change overnight. Peronist populism also survives in the Argentinean political field like an infection, a spreading rot that never quite goes away.
My read on Argentina is still very much the same, unfortunately. You see, although 2001 was the time in which the country collapsed, socially, economically and politically, what came after that was far worse. The leftists Kirchner scum that took over was a complete nightmare straight out of the 70’s.

They reinvented themselves as romantic revolutionary socialists. The truth though is quite different.
Nestor and Cristina Kirchner, they started with a law firm. They worked for banks and financial groups which filed foreclosures, since the Central Bank's 1050 ruling had raised mortgage loan interest rates. Through political contacts and bribes, they also acquired 21 real-estate lots for a low price when they were about to be auctioned. Their law firm defended military personnel accused of committing human right crimes during the “Dirty War”.
But being the clever criminals they were, they understood the power of the left, the socialist and social justice speech they saw in their youth.

All of a sudden they reinvented themselves not as a greedy, shady law firm turned politician, kicking poor people out of their homes and defending military personnel accused of torturing civilians. Now, according to them, they were practically Che Guevara with a rifle in their hands fighting the imperialist Americans.

As laughable as that sounds for the people that knew them for what they were back in the day, it sounded good and people ate that up. You had the real commies from back in the day, beaten like street dogs all of a sudden being vindicated. Support from “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” gave them international legitimacy, siding with the mothers of those killed during the Junta. Of course we wont talk about those that faked their deaths only to later be found alive in Spain, or those that had been killed in gunfights with the police, or the ones that died while planting bombs to kill innocent civilians. They were all freedom fighting heroes now, all of them. And all the police, the armed forces, they were all nazi pig dictators.

That’s what an entire generation was brought up to believe. The mugger, the criminal robbing at gunpoint, he’s a poor victim of the evil American capitalist system. The politician that steals millions? He’s stealing for the crown, for comrade Cristina and comrade Nestor, and they need money to fight the evil capitalists.

This madness, I kid you not, is very real. And it only got worse year after year with increasing indoctrination in schools, TV and other media, even cartoons for kids had this message.
The damage was very real and it doesn’t just go away because the dictators finally leave.
Kid, children, education, schools and the agenda in Universities. That’s where it’s at, and these scumbags knew that. After 12 years of constant indoctrination the damage is generational. You have an entire generation of young adults that today believe Cristina Kirchner is a saviour. There’s some older fools that believe Peron was their saviour too.

Of course, you also have hundreds of thousands that got used to stealing through the government. Getting paid for doing nothing. You have generations of poor welfare soldiers that make a living out of going to protest and marches and shouting “Cristina! Cristina!” or insulting the current President, Mauricio Macri. And of course there are thousands of millionaire politicians. Drugs, bribes, police corruption, anything goes. Even a lousy local small time politician can make a fortune.
As things stand today, nearly half the country would STILL vote for Cristina Kirchner. There’s no hope for people that are either that corrupt or that stupid.

Finally voting for President Mauricio Macri, that was a big first step. But now he needs to be re-elected. After him, another honest politician needs to become president. Maybe Maria Eugenia Vidal. If that happens and that woman gets re-elected, then maybe Argentina can actually become a 1^st world country like its supposed to be.

But as things stand today, Cristina Kirchner could be president again this year. If that happens, Argentina will be taking giant leaps backwards. Back to the old ways, closer to becoming another Venezuela.
FerFAL

Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre is the author of “The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse” and “Bugging Out and Relocating: When Staying is not an Option”