Argentina Diplomatic Briefing

This entry is pretty heavy, but we promise you that reports of a very different sort will be soon coming. 

We docked in Buenos Aires this morning at 8 am.   Jayne and I were up on the 7^th deck by 6:30 am to watch the grand entrance in to the port.  It was a beautiful morning.

We had a very interesting diplomatic briefing starting around 8:30 am by about six people from the U. S. embassy.  Interestingly, I've been telling people not to trust my perceptions of Argentina since I was there 30 years ago and the place has surely changed.   However, there were several things that the diplomats emphasized that were things I've been saying about Argentina.

The political and military affairs officers commented that Argentine politics is incomprehensible.  He has worked in a variety of places across the globe and in other Latin American countries but finds Argentina absolutely unique and none of the analytical tools he's been taught produces much in the way of comprehension.   I thought the same thing when I was here (though I don't command the sophisticated analytical tools of a political scientist) and even having read a book on 20^th century Argentine political history in preparation for this trip I'm still unable to make sense of it.  It was encouraging to know that a professional expert felt the same way.

The other thing he said that reminded me of something I concluded 30 years ago had to do with the widespread resentment that Argentines feel toward the United States.  He suggested that some of it is rooted in jealousy (not all by any means, see comments below about the Dirty War).

Argentina is a nation of immigrants like us, with vast agricultural resources like us.  At the turn of the 20^th century Argentina had the seventh largest economy in the world.   However, the 20^th century saw the United States thrive and Argentina decline, and Argentines can't get over it.

The cultural affairs officer commented on what a distorted view of the United States many Argentines have because of the way their popular media is saturated with films and television shows made in the U. S. A.  She said, they always asked me who shot J. R.? Gracious, they were asking us 30 years ago who shot J. R. and assumed we all lived like the people in "Dallas."  Now, they seem to think "Housewives of New Jersey" is a realistic portrayal of our family life.

Several of us who have some knowledge and experience related to the Argentine military junta's "dirty war" against their political opponents in the 1970s ask the political and military attaché some very pointed questions and I was extremely impressed with his answers.  I commented to him that the people I know in Argentina are all convinced that the repressive techniques, including torture, used by the Argentine military in the dirty war were learned at the U. S. sponsored School of the Americas and in the police and military training programs under the Alliance for Progress.  I ask him what he thought about their suspicions (and if that might not explain some of Argentina's resentment). 

He told us he had worked in Chile and that there was no question that we were involved through the CIA in the overthrow of Salvador Allende and the installation of Pinochet's military dictatorship.  The only debatable question, he said, was how deep U. S. involvement was.  The U.S. relationship to the Argentine junta was much more indirect and much more a matter of the general climate that the U. S. created through its relationship with Latin American militaries.  "In Chile," he said, "I heard very specific charges:  My husband was tortured and killed by this particular Chilean officer and this particular American officer was with him or in the next room.  We have never had such specific accusations in Argentina."  He said that the current government would surely raise those issues if they had such evidence.

I was tremendously impressed with his forthrightness about Chile and believe his overall impression with regard to Argentina is probably very close to the truth.   Of course, with respect to both, there is nothing for the United States to be proud of.    It was unfortunate that he had to leave very quickly because he was soon to be meeting with the U. S. Ambassador to Argentina.  I believe we could have learned a great deal from him. He was bright, forthright, and very informative and clear.