Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
12
CONCLUSION:
HISTORY AS PREDATOR
An old joke goes something like this: After God created Earth, He
discovered that the Southern Cone had received all the riches—
fertile prairies, oil deposits, majestic mountains, attractive hills and
lakes, rich river basins, and varied climates. Then, for the sake of bal-
ance, He populated the region with Argentines.
What is wrong with Argentina?
To answer the perennial Argentine Riddle, the historian might refer
to an old adage in the Southern Cone: “The past is predator” (Feitlowitz
1998, xi). Juan Bautista Alberdi suggested that many of his country-
men of the 19th century seemed burdened by their historical legacy,
defeated by “old habits.”
ABriefHistoryofArgentina
presents ample evi-
dence to support this view. The predatory past stalks the inhabitants of
Argentina in the form of two enduring behaviors. Social discrimination
has become so ingrained in day-to-day relationships that Argentines
easily overlook—even deny—its consequences. Meanwhile, the impu-
nity enjoyed by those in a position of power, particularly political
power, has permitted violence and corruption to become entrenched
behavior. These problems did not originate in the last quarter of the
20th century; they began with the European settlement of the Río de la
Plata almost 500 years ago. And the two behaviors have been mutually
reinforcing.
Social Discrimination
Argentine society has been deeply divided and conflicted since the first
Spanish explorer sailed along the Paraná River, there to be riddled with
the arrows of the native Charrúa. Thus began the centuries-long clash
between two competing cultures, the indigenous and the European.
