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…)

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.
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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%).

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

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.

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)

In this video the fine folks over at Al Jazeera take a look at the bizarre story of Argentina’s “medicine mafia” and the fake or adulterated drugs that it sold to people, even dying people, who desperately needed them.

September wasn’t a particularly good month for crime in Argentina, 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 32.7% 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 31.6% the previous month and up from 29.3% a year ago.

The study said that victims violent crimes report them to the police only one third of the time, meaning that 2/3 of all violent crimes are never formally reported. That says a lot about society’s lack of trust in the efficacy of police and the judicial system. (more…)

The Seattle-based caffeine supplier to the masses has opened a new store in the Galerias Pacifico shopping center downtown, bringing the total number of Starbucks in Buenos Aires to 12.

“It makes us very happy to have finally arrived at Galerías Pacífico, one of the most exclusive shopping centers in the country,” Starbucks Argentina General Manager Diego Paolini said in a statement. “This is a very important opening for us because it marks not only the opening of 12 stores, but it also is the eighth opening so far this year.”

Starbucks is also about to open a 13th store in the Unicenter shopping mall in Martínez.

Starbucks is evidently having much more success than many of its foreign fast-food predecessors. Other companies that have crashed and burned in Argentina include Dunkin’ Donuts, Dominos Pizza, Pizza Hut, Fuddruckers, Subway Sandwiches, Schlotzskys, and Wendy’s.

You can find all of the local Starbucks locations here: (more…)

Almost half of Argentina feels pessimistic about 2010, according to a survey published Tuesday by the polling firm Ibarómetro.

The survey shows that 47% of people polled said they think next year will be worse than this year while just 12% think “the situation will be better.” About 27% of those surveyed said they think things will remain the same,

When asked about their “personal situation,” Argentines were a bit more optimistic. Around 25% said they think their personal situation will be worse next year but almost 20% said it will be better. Around a third of people polled said their situation won’t change.

In general, people in rural areas are more pessimistic about the future while people in the city are a bit more optimistic.

Females are more pessimistic than men (51.3% of women think things will become worse while just 42.6% of men feel that way). Meanwhile, people aged 30-44 are more pessimistic than people in any other age group.

People who are over 60 are the most confused about the future, with 31.2% of them saying they “don’t know” what’s going to happen. Perhaps that makes them wiser than anyone else?