OK, I’m completely biased and have no pretense of journalistic impartiality for this post.
But isn’t my new little pug one of the cutest dogs you’ve ever seen?
His name is Yoda Buki. He’s about three months old, fits easily in one hand and has the sweetest possible disposition. This second photo makes him look much bigger than he actually is.
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The number of violent crimes reported in Argentina fell in January for the fist time in five months, according to a new study.
Torcuarto Di Tella University’s latest crime “victimization rate” survey indicates that both overall criminal activity and violent crime fell last month.
Di Tella’s study, which surveys households in 40 urban centers around the country, shows that 32% of these homes said at least one household member was a victim of a crime within the past 12 months.
That figure is down sharply from 37% the previous month but up from 30% a year ago. That puts crime up almost 7% on the year and down 17% on the month.
As happened in previous months, crime victims were more likely to be well educated. Indeed, almost 41% had a college degree or at least some post-high school education. Around 34% had just a high school degree while 25% had only an elementary education.
Crime was worst in the cities of Cordoba, Mendoza, Rosario and Tucuman, where 39% of households reported having a victim. The victimization rate in the City of Buenos Aires last month was 34% while it was 26% in Greater Bueno Aires.
When asked about combatting crime, a plurality of people (33%) said more police need to be on the streets. Around 29% said tougher penalties are needed while 25% said more “social inclusion” would push crime lower. Just 1.6% said the death penalty would lower crime.
Link: Di Tella Victimization Survey (from December)
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Butch Cassidy (bottom right) & The Sundance Kid (bottom left)
By John D Farr
Any Westerner knows about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Their daring raids were executed with military precision and skillfully planned. They roamed the west in such a wide ranging region that it was hard to know where they were hanging out.
The “Wild Bunch” was an always changing group of men. If any one thing marked them, it was their fine horses because that was their mode of transportation. In their day, people remembered fine horses.
The railroads and banks got pretty serious about this group of bandits and eventually the outlaws fled to Argentina. Here along the Andes in Chubut province in a little mountain town of Cholila, they settled down. It took a few years for the authorities to find them. Stories of robberies in Argentina tipped off the Pinkerton people that maybe they were down there. (more…)
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Dear friends,
The Argentine Post is a blog about culture, economics, entertainment, food and politics, among other things. It rarely has been a personal blog about me or any other contributor. However, recent events have affected me personally in a way that affects this blog and my contribution to it.
My great friend, beloved and otherwise-healthy mother was recently diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia, a dreadful disease which does everything it can to suck the life out of you. I am with family and taking care of my mother at a hospital in the U.S., where we are hoping, praying and fighting for remission.
During this time, I will not be able to respond to many emails or post about matters profound or mundane. To the extent possible, friends, fellow journalists and other contributors will do this for me. If you have emailed me and not gotten a response, my sincere apologies. At some point, I will try to catch up with the hundreds of emails that have gone unread.
Life is short, very short. As my mother has always reminded me through her actions: Forgive genuinely, give generously and love unconditionally.
Kind wishes and a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.
Taos
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By Brian Byrnes.
There have been many, many stories told about Argentina’s horrific 1976-1983 “Dirty War,” when the military ruled the country with an iron fist, squashing any dissident voices. At least 10,000, and perhaps as many as 30,000 people, “disappeared” during this dark era. I have done several reports over the years on a variety of topics related to the “Dirty War,” from amnesty laws being overturned in 2003, to the public opening of a former detention center in 2004, to the (still) missing witness from a trial in 2006. As more and more former military leaders appear in court on human rights abuses, and more and more victims are identified, the issue continues to be a very important one for many Argentines. When I learned about the work of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF, in Spanish) and their tremendous success in identifying and reuniting family members with the remains of their loved ones through the use of science, I immediately wanted to do a story about them. (more…)
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The following post first appeared in the As Belgrano Byrnes blog and is re-printed here courtesy of my friend and colleague Brian Byrnes.
By Brian Byrnes
I was in a car on the Panamericana Highway in Buenos Aires last week with two men I had just met, both of whom I was interviewing for a story I was working on for Newsweek. One of them, Nicolas, asked me where I grew up, and when I told him Baltimore, he veered the conversation (as many often do) to “The Wire.” We both agreed that it was one of the best television series ever made. The other guy, Sebastian, had never seen the show, so I started breathlessly telling him how the writing, acting and photography were unmatched, and how it portrayed the modern urban American experience so vividly, and how it gave viewers laser-sharp insight into the inner workings of inner-city drug cartels.
About 45 seconds into my fawning discourse, I recognized the sheer absurdity of the situation: the man I was glorifying the American drug culture to was the son of the world’s most famous drug dealer, Pablo Escobar.
Yes, I was talking drugs with Juan Pablo Escobar, who now goes by the name, Sebastian Marroquin. Thankfully, I stopped myself just short of offering to lend him my DVD copies of Season 1-5. Now, that would have been weird. I don’t think Marroquin would find “The Wire” particularly entertaining. At least I hopenot, especially since the reason I was in the car with him, and director Nicolas Entel, was the new documentary film they just released called “Sins of My Father,” essentially a 90-minute apology from Marroquin to the Colombian people for the many gross, violent and bloody acts committed by his father when he was the richest, most powerful and ruthless drug kingpin on the planet.
(more…)
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Would you like to give something back to Argentina?
Here’s a chance to find out how.
Idealist.org has published information about a meeting Wednesday night for people who’d like to learn about volunteering in Argentina. You might be asking yourself, What is Idealist.org? Here’s their intro:
“Idealist is a project of Action Without Borders, a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 with offices in the United States and Argentina. Idealist is an interactive site where people and organizations can exchange resources and ideas, locate opportunities and supporters, and take steps toward building a world where all people can lead free and dignified lives.”
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On Sunday former Argentine soccer star Fernando Cáceres was shot in the head as theives tried to steal his car while he drove through the neighborhood of Ciudadela on the western outskirts of the City of Buenos Aires.
The 40-year-old Cáceres, who played for Argentina in the 1995 World Cup, now lies comatose in a hospital, with a bullet lodged inside his brain.
Unfortunately, what happened to Cáceres wasn’t an entirely isolated incident.
Car theft (including violent car jacking) has soared in Argentina so far this year. And it’s risen dramatically in the area where Cáceres was shot, as well as in other parts of the country.
Nationwide, car theft rose almost 21% in the first nine months of 2009, according to CESVI, a car and road safety organization. But the data vary dramatically depending on location.
Car theft rose only 2.4% in the capital City of Buenos Aires.
But it skyrocketed by 140% in the neighborhood of Ezeiza and by 197% in General Rodriguez and 136% in Lujan.
In the City of Buenos Aires, the worst areas were Flores, where theft rose 12.8%, and Retiro, where it jumped 12.5%.
In the country’s interior, car theft harshly affected Neuquen province (+67%), Mendoza (+66%), Santa Fe (+53%) and Cordoba (29%).
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The rate of crime rose again last month, making October the fourth consecutive month of increases, according to a new study.
Torcuarto Di Tella University’s latest crime “victimization rate” survey indicates that both overall criminal activity and violent crime worsened last month.
Di Tella’s study, which surveys households in 40 urban centers around the country, shows that 34.6% of these homes said at least one household member was a victim of a crime within the past 12 months.
That figure is up a bit from 32.7% the previous month and up from 29% a year ago. That puts crime up about 19% on the year and up almost 6% on the month.
The study said that reported crime victims were much more likely to be well educated. Indeed, 42.4% of victims had a college degree or at least some post-high school education. Meanwhile, 34% of victims had just a high school degree and 31.7% had only an elementary education.
Crime was worst last month in the cities of Cordoba, Mendoza, Rosario and Tucuman, where 43% of households reported having a victim. The victimization rate in the City of Buenos Aires last month was 38.1% while it was 31.9% in Greater Bueno Aires.
Link: Di Tella Victimization Survey
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My friend Brian Byrnes over at CNN flew across Argentina recently to meet with the philanthropist Doug Tompkins (founder of the clothing giants The North Face and ESPIRIT) and look at his environmental work in the country.
The result of the trip is a very interesting video. Unfortunately, CNN videos can’t be embedded on blogs like this, but you can watch the video in a new window by clicking here.
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Al Gore, the Nobel Prize winning former vice president of the United States, is in Argentina.
Gore will give four talks around the country on Wednesday and Thursday. He’ll be speaking first in the Buenos Aires suburb of Tigre Wednesday, then later at La Rural in Palermo. On Thursday he’ll give a talk in Mendoza and another in San Luis.
Click here for more information.
General details follow:
Tigre at 11am, Wednesday ($500 pesos, $100 for students)
La Rural at 4pm, Wednesday ($500 pesos, $100 for students)
Mendoza at 11am, Thursday ($500 pesos, $100 for students)
San Luis at 5pm, Thursday ($480 pesos)
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