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Friday, August 4, 2017

Argentina a lost decade or a lost century?.

1:01 PM Unknown
Its so hard to cram the history of the last century in Argentina into a short story so many things have happened and the country keeps repeating the same mistakes and refusing to move on.
   To pick the moment of the steep decline would be 1929 and the great depression. But I will briefly go back further to 1868 and the president Domingo Sarmiento. When he took charge Argentina had 90% illiteracy but during his term 11,000 schools were built and a platform was put in place. From 1880 right through to 1929 Argentina would boom and have almost uniterupted growth. It would be second only to the united states in attracting immigration from Europe and elsewhere.
     So when 1929 came  it hit Argentina very hard as it did many other parts of the world. Within a few years fascism was on the rise in Germany but more importantly in Spain and Italy the two countries with the strongest European links to Argentina. And tragically this right wing populist path would be chosen by Argentina. The young Jaun Peron would become the military attache to Italy and would visit Muselini Hitler and Franco.
   Argentina's path to economic destruction was being paved with quicksand but still all was not lost. They managed to stay out of World War 11 until March of 1945 when they finally got off the fence and declared war on Germany. A decision that looked as false as it probably was.
   At this point as the world was rebuilding and pledging itself to do better for its people and if Argentina had followed the day was not lost.But Argentina was about to show just how disconnected it was from reality and the rest of the world.
   In 1946 as Europe cleansed itself of all it's right wing dictators (except for Franco) Argentina was about to elect a right wing populist military man named Jaun Domingo Peron.
    A new form of political party was born PERONISM.  It would bring about nepotism and corruption on a scale that would shame the devil and lead Argentina to hell.
    As Jaun Peron and his second Wife Evita wowed the working classes by throwing money and shoes at them (but never books)and giving the occasional cronies free houses capital flight began and Argentina began to hemorrhage it's wealth.
     In 1952 Evita would die of cancer and in1955 a military coup would oust Peron.
But the cancer of PERONISM refused to die with Evita and the party kept coming back and the result was always the same. Corruption nepotism and economic chaos.
  In 1973 like a bad Penny Peron returned again as president of Argentina his 3rd wife Isabel as his vice President. Peron passed away the following year and wife number 3 would become the president.
   As Peron and Isabel had lived many years in Spain they had seen and knew all to well Franco's methods. So the death squad the Triple As was formed The Argentine anti Communist Alliance.
This death squad Made up mainly of military members would go on to exterminate all of Isabels enemies and use the cover of the cold war to label them as Communists.
   But far worse was in store for Argentina as a military coup would unseat Isabel in 1976 leading to a bloodbath the like of which nobody could imagine and still struggle to grasp. Thousands would die as Argentina suffered a 7 year military dictatorship.
    In 83 Argentina returned to democracy and a rare prize a decent honest president Ricardo Alfonsin and he built a new platform that has maintained democracy ever since. He challenged the power of the military (they would never again appoint there own leaders) he challenged the Catholic church and the unions and both did all they could to undermine him.
    Then sadly the PERONISM returned and economic chaos and the largest bankruptcy in history followed 2001. Everyone who had savings in the bank lost 70% in a day as Argentina defaulted on more the 100 billion dollars of debt.
    You would think the country would learn it's lesson but no in 2003 they elected peronist Nestor Kirchner.
The corruption had reached the top levers of power and would go on to corrupt everything it touched. For 12 years Nestor then his wife Cristina would loot Argentina. In the spirit of Peron and Evita they would throw worthless pesos to the poor to buy their votes while stealing all the US Dollar's that entered the system. A Mafia was running and ruining the country.
    But in 2015 a candidate and the mayor of Buenos Aires ran against the peronist on a platform of Zero tolerance of corruption and the weary voter's heard the message and thankfully listened.
  Mauricio Macri was elected to expose and deal with corruption and has so far lived up to his word. The Argentine economy is showing strong signs of growth and foreign investors once more have Argentina on their radar. But what a journey Argentina has taken , it should be a Canada or Australia but for most of the last 100'years it's been a basket case country that keeps shooting itself in the foot.
My name is John Boyle I am a tour guide in Buenos Aires
I hope you have enjoyed y article.
If you would like to book a tour or visit our website please click the link below or email me at [email protected] 005491158528509
    http://www.buenosairestaxis.com/city-tours/

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