Argentina: How much corruption is enough?

Corruption is one of the biggest challenges facing Argentina and other Latin American countries. It’s tougher than military regimes that once ruled these parts and committed outlandish crimes against their countrymen.

The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index is an excellent source to measure corruption. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand are the least corrupt with Haiti being at the bottom of the 2006 list.

Of the Latin American countries, Chile (20th) is at the top followed by Uruguay (28th) and El Salvador (57th).  Argentina placed 93rd on the list of 163 coutnries.

It’s pretty incredible to note that after military regimes in Latin America relinquished power to the civilians from the 1980s, there’s one foe that continues to wreak havoc: corruption. It operates more efficiently than any ruthless dictatorship.

In Argentina, most people would agree with you that corruption is one of the main culprits that has kept it from becoming a developed country with strong economic and political institutions.

“Why don’t you denounce the corrupt politician, mayor or policeman?” I asked recently at a party.

“Because we’d end up being harassed by the authorities,” the person said.

If you think of it, the culture of fear that forces you into inaction is the same but different type of terror that military regimes used to rule the country.

Corruption, however, is like an ogre that has fine manners on the surface and walks around in a suit and knows your price.It does not need to shot you in the head or torture you to get information.

To be or not be mestizo

Mestizo is a term commonly used in Latin America to classify a person that has a Spanish and Amerindian ethnic background. 

There’s been an interesting debate in Bolivia recently that suggests that the country, whose inhabitants are mostly Amerindian, are mainly mestizo. An article published July 1 in La Paz daily La Razón reported that 64% of Bolivians identify themselves as mestizo.

Guatemala is another Latin American country where the majority (about 80%) of its inhabitants are Amerindians.

The debate in Bolivia, whether its population is mostly Amerindian or not, is odd. Are they debating the issue because the “minority” mestizo and European “white” population see themselves threatened by MAS (Movement Towards Socialism) President Evo Morales’ government?

I’ve always been amazed by how Latin Americans classify themselves ethnically.

If anything, the debate in Bolivia shows how underdeveloped the region is. How do you explain that being ”white” is a zillion times better than being Ameridian or mestizo? If you don’t believe me, take a fast look at any Latin American soap opera. Normally the dark person is the servant and the white person the master.

This is pretty incredulous considering that the so-called Latin American whites are a minority compared to the mestizos, who are a majority.  

The situation is a bit like South Africa, when it imprisoned the Black majority with the help of apartheid.  In most of Latin America the same thing is happening with the help of lack of education, human rights and endemic poverty.

Returning to where I was once from (Part II)

After tomorrow it’ll be a week since we arrived in Buenos Aires. I’m traveling with my son Martin. The first time Martin traveled to  Buenos Aires was about 15 years ago. He’s 18 now so he doesn’t remember a thing from that trip.

One of the matters that has struck Martin the most about the country is how cheap it is. We went to a store and checked out some neat Christian Dior shirts. The price of a shirt was 50 pesos, or about $17. There were other name brands that were in the same price range.

At the railway station outside Buenos Aires, a kiosk vendor was selling Windows Vista for 20 pesos, about $7.  

I told my son that it’s not possible that what costs many times more in Europe or in the States costs only a fraction here in Argentina.

The Argentineans have a great word for it. Whenever something is fake or an imitation they call it trucho. It must be one of the top-ten nouns used in Argentina.

There was an article in Clarín, the biggest daily in the country, that reported that 70% of all CDs sold in Argentina are pirate, or trucho, copies!

With salaries being much lower than what people make in the so-called developed world, it’s no wonder why the government isn’t doing anything to clamp down on this illicit trade.

Buying a real Christian Dior shirt or Windows Vista progam would not be possible, unless a middle-class Argentinean didn’t eat or pay the rent for a few months.

Brazil is crowned Copa America soccer king

There was an air of manifest anticipation and a fair dose of dread all day before the final Copa America soccer championship game kicked off between Argentina and Brazil. As far as these two countries are concerned, it’s never a light matter when they face each other on the playing court be it soccer, volleyball, field hockey, track and field or ice hockey.

Ok, so they don’t play ice hockey in these countries but you get my point.

Argentina played one of its worst games ever. Argentinean stars like Messi, Tevez, Veron, Riquelme, jointly worth tens of millions of dollars, looked like they were being taken for a ride by the Brazilians. They weren’t able to score one goal. The game ended 3-0 for Brazil.

I asked a taxi driver after the game why he looked so tired?

“We lost,” he said. “And what’s worse to the Brazilians. If we would have lost against the Paraguayans, or any other team, it wouldn’t have been a problem but to the Brazilians!”

A good friend and collegaue of mine told me Sunday a couple of hours before the game that he didn’t care which team won.

“Following soccer or any national sport is like awakening the primitive spirit in us,” he said. “It’s like allowing yourself to be fooled and tricked into focusing your attention away from buring issues that society faces.”

He made a good point.

Returning to where I was once from (Part I)

I arrived in Buenos Aires late-Thursday night. The flight was gruelling: Finland to Frankfurt and then a long flight to Rio. After the plane had been delayed for three hours at Rio, I finally made it to Buenos Aires.

Argentina is an incredible country. In many ways everything that could go wrong with a country has gone wrong with Argentina. Its history is marred by military coups, repression, weak civilian governments — a hiccup here and turmoil there.

Argentina has enjoyed democracy since 1983, when the military government relinquished power in disgrace. They had a lot of blood on their hands: over 30,000 vanished during the dirty war (1976-83) and the ruinous Falklands war (Malvinas in Spanish).

The last hiccup that the country suffered was in December 2001, when the economy went into meltdown. Economic growth has picked up since then but there’s not enough energy now to keep the wheels of industry moving.

It’s a great feeling to be back after nine years and return to where I was once from. While the developed world has roared ahead duirng those years it appears that countries like Argentina are struggling. Poor governments, endemic corruption and economic inquality are its worst enemies.  

Despite the setbacks that Argentineans have suffered, many can still hold their heads high. Some haven’t succumbed to the misery and failure that always takes this country back to square one. If a person still has his dignity intact after being trampled on by events beyond his doing, they are the ones that I raise my hat to.

Those that suffer, struggle and can still muster hope and compation for others are the bravest SOB’s on Earth.    

Will be posting over the weekend…

…if some are wondering why I haven’t posted anything since Friday it’s because I’m travelling to Argentina. When I get to Bueno Aires, I’ll post something over the weekend.

I’m heading from summer to cold winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Ode to the immigrant

Who would write about the plight of immigrants if we wouldn’t?

I’ve traveled for such a long time that sojourning feels tireless. So much wandering for so many generations… The former lands of my late relatives appear from afar like strange custom.

It’s all time’s fault. It always is because it encourages us to move on and there’s no turning back when you do. Even if I wanted, I cannot get the answer from the frozen black-and-white images in pictures taken over a century ago. What did they search so hard for in foreign lands?

I’m nobody but a process, a link on an endless human chain, they may respond to my question and return to their near-interminable silence.

But thanks for allowing me to share my thoughts and tell you that what lies over yonder, over that hill where it’s supposedly greener, only lives hope.

If I’d have to describe hope, it’s nothing more than a transit lounge of humanity where paths of life extend in every direction. Such trails are decorated on both sides by Earth’s bountiful and sometimes breathtaking landscapes.

Milan, Italy, March 4, 2001

Updated: A summertime dedication to my friends…

…and another warm day where time takes its time. The lake near the town of Mikkeli in eastern Finland looks so comforting, like a liquid bed where you can rest and leave your cares on shore. I dedicate these four pictures to all the nice people I’ve met blogging.

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, I hope you’re enjoying summer as I am.

Please ask if you’re going to use these pictures elsewhere. Many thanks.

Click on Picture 1: Here’s a waterlily, probably middle-aged, resting on the lake.

Click on picture 2: In the shallow part of the lake the sand and stones rejoice because of the warmth emitted by excess sunlight.

Click on picture 3: Here’s a better view of the lake in eastern Finland.

Click on picture 4: This picture, taken by my son Dante, was shot about eight hours later. The sun works in mysterious ways in the Sub-Arctic.

Geography will save humanity from itself

I’ve been thinking about an interesting comment Savannah made on how do we put an end to the insanity and the culture of violence to prevalent in the world.

There is a saying in Spain that goes something like the following: No se puede amar lo que se desconoce, you cannot love something that you do not know.

So how could we learn to know those we do not know and thereby create a more harmonious world?

Will geography awaken the world to a new dawn?

If I could, I would make geography one of the most mandatory subjects at schools. Geography courses would be highly recommended for adults as well.

The geography classes wouldn’t dwell on superficial matters like capital cities, but also detailed knowledge of the provinces/states, counties and even neighborhoods of major cities. Those courses would include some anthropology/sociology and history, but just enough to not permit students to sit and fall asleep comfortably in the armchair of stereotypes and cultural myths.

With a better knowledge of where different people live and what their cultures are, we would end up promoting a better coexistence between nations and their inhabitants. Even politicians, who thrive on some voters’ ignorance of geography and cultures, would have a more difficult time arguing a new case for war.

Knowledge of geography is the first key step in creating a world that would not not thrive on suspicion of other peoples and war.

The moon is down on the war on terror

I’ve been thinking for a while about the S.U.V. that slammed through the door of Glasgow Airport. Fortunately there weren’t any innocent bystanders that were injured nor killed by the horrifically stupid act.

Even so, everything must be put in context. We’re talking about one S.U.V set alight by two drivers. The unsuccessful plot to detonate a car bomb in London is, however, a more serious matter because the intent was to kill and cause the greatest amount of injury and death on Londoners and tourists.

Just as U.S. and coalition forces were about to romp Saddam Hussein militarily in 2003, John Steinbeck’s The Moon is Down came to mind. I don’t work for the State Department nor did I get a Ph.D in political science, but I understood at the time that the U.S. was getting itself in deep water because of the invasion. There’s one basic reason why: A foreign Christian army is invading a Muslim country.

Published in 1942, Steinbeck’s novel takes place at a coal-mining town somewhere in Continental Europe. The occupying army attempts to force the townspeople into submission but the contrary happens. Resistance to the occupying force mounts with acts of sabotage to the coal mine.

In the end, the invaders realize the futility of their campaign and it becomes clear to them that they have lost the war. The flies, as Steinbeck so eloquently writes at the end of the novel, had conquered the flypaper.

Iraq and the S.U.V. incident prove that the moon is down on the so-called war on terror. The moon will continue to sink deeper for as long as we allow those who are profiting economically and politically from the war to continue to operate and rule with our blessings.

As long as we don’t find political solutions in earnest in the troubled Middle East and elsewhere globally, we’ll be the flypaper and our real and imagined enemies the flies.