Is this story true..

[Grazie]

I have heard from a friend who visited a mutual friend in BA that there was a home invasion robbery that happened in Pilar (barrio cerrado or county club, I am not sure) a few months back. I thought these country homes are enclosed with tall walls, barbed wires and with security guards, 24/7. I would like to get some facts straight on this matter and would like to read reliable statistics and accounts of facts on this. First, I would like to ask if crimes like this was actually given some airtime on TV (and what came about of it).
To put a balance to this story, there are home invasion robberies that happen in other countries, like the US and SouthEast Asian cities, but mostly of these are concentrated on one target area and usually excuted with commando style and precision.
Crimes are getting worse everywhere, I suppose. We just have to be extra careful without living in fear. And I guess, it never hurts to be kind to others. Words and action, alike.
Grazie

 

[Granadaiscool]

It's true and military style robberies against barrios cerrados are on the raise.
There has been one famous near Pilar and that basically happend because there were not enough safety-guards or it was an inside job.
I can't really comment on it but I suppose that barrio cerrrados are still safe, but not as safe as they were used to be

 

[Grazie]

Thank you for confirming this. I have not been in BsAs for a few months now and was wondering if someone was just yanking my chain with this story. I live in the city when I am there so was not aware of this particular incident. Thanks again for the FYI.

 

[Granadaiscool]

http://www.lanacion.com.ar/Archivo/nota.asp?nota_id=884615

 

[bigbadwolf]

It's true and military style robberies against barrios cerrados are on the raise.
There has been one famous near Pilar and that basically happend because there were not enough safety-guards or it was an inside job.
I can't really comment on it but I suppose that barrio cerrrados are still safe, but not as safe as they were used to be.

Gated communities outside Buenos Aires perhaps provide an illusion of safety to the inhabitants but certainly not the reality. The security guards are not combat trained and in any case are not going to risk their lives for the monthly pittance they earn (I think about 800 pesos). A trained gang armed with semi-automatics could easily get into a gated community and clean up; the only problem I see is ensuring that outside help arrives too late.
In cities like Karachi, robbers use AK-47s (which can be rented by the hour) and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades). Perhaps the same holds in cities such as Sao Paolo? One can anticipate such crimes increasing as societies become increasingly polarised, with the rich holed up in private estates and gated communities (essentially living in a state of siege), and a growing population of desperately poor people on the outside.

 

[syngirl]

We're in Argentina, Not the US -- AK47s aren't exactly available at the rates seen in that country. You've been living in the US for too long -- take a little trip to Canada and try to understand that in the large majority of non-warfaring countries, carrying a weapon is not considered normal.
As Grazie said these crimes do occur in the rest of the world, and with more frequency than here. Also, La Nacion and TN report on these every time -- to me the fact that they hit the news every time means that people are still shocked and they don't just see it as a day-to-day occurence.
I think we should remember that unlike in the States where everyone and their dog pulls out their gun at the drop of a hat, a lot of the robbers here don't even possess guns, and most robberies see the end result that the owner just gives them their money and they leave without harming anyone, or the robbers get freaked out about something and flee.
The guards at countries are paid well -- if you want your country to be secure of course you pay your "front line" a good salary. If you've got a good guard, they do their job -- one guy even took a bullet in the stomach and his hand while trying to stop some men coming in. Realising that they may have actually killed a guy (suddenly stepping up from armed robbery to murder) the guys that were trying to get in fled the scene, never even entered the Country. The guard is in hospital and should recover.
The robberies are not exactly organised either - it's usually a few guys coming in over a wall -- take a look at this pic from Good Airs and you'll see that you don't exactly need to be an expert planner to figure out how to get in: http://www.goodairs.com/2007/04/bubble-generation.html
Also, if we were to apply lessons from the excerpt below, it would seem that the robbers are getting their guns from the people that they are robbing:
El Olivos Golf Club (foto), de la localidad bonaerense de Pablo Nogués, partido de Malvinas Argentinas, fue asaltado el viernes último por tercera vez en dos meses y por segunda en una semana. Allí, por lo menos dos hombres entraron en la casa del empresario Víctor Andrés D Atri, cuando éste se encontraba trabajando en la Capital, y se llevaron 9000 dólares, un reloj marca Rolex, dos pistolas 9 milímetros, una Beretta y una Walther.

A este hecho se sumó ayer a la madrugada el robo en una casa del country Los Pilares, de Pilar, donde dos delincuentes sólo alcanzaron a sustraer la cartera de la dueña de casa, que dormía, al igual que a su marido, sus dos hijos, de 5 y 12 años, y una empleada doméstica. Al ser descubiertos, huyeron.
By the way, moral of the story above: don't buy in this country - 3 times in 2 months? Something fishy going on there.
Also if we're going to tell the full story, apartments in the city are being broken into as well. In Caballito, Villa Urquiza, and Barrio Norte. In Barrio Norte on the weekend 3 robbers forced the encargado of a building to take them to different apartments:
El episodio ocurrió el viernes pasado cerca de la 22 cuando los delincuentes ingresaron al edificio ubicado en Azcuénga y Paraguay, y sorprendieron al portero en su departamento del décimo piso. http://www.lanacion.com.ar/904782
It really bothers me when people that aren't living in BA write about BA, Sao Paolo and Karachi in the same breath. It is evidence that this writer has spent very little time in BA. I will grant you the fact that of course there are poor neighbourhoods where I would be crazy to walk through, but hell, I wouldn't walk through most of Detroit, step foot in some areas of Chicago, or be caught in areas of DC after about 2pm.
BBW I think you've been traumatised by your time in Karachi and the US -- maybe it's time to take a little breather -- head to Canada or to Patagonia, chill out for a few months, turn off the FoxNews and start watching the CBC to get some perspective (you're in Michigan I believe, you may be able to get the signal).
But please don't try to raise the paranoia levels on the forum, people who are thinking to move here should understand that like any major city you do have to be vigilant, but they shouldn't be scared every time they leave their house.

 

[Stanexpat]

I agree with the above post. There have been a few break-ins, but there are thousands of homes in these developments. I live in one and don't feel afraid. My doors are unlocked at night.

 

[realba]

http://www.goodairs.com/2007/04/bubble-generation.html

blog story about an article in the Guardian a few days ago.

 

[sergio]

"I think we should remember that unlike in the States where everyone and
their dog pulls out their gun at the drop of a hat, a lot of the
robbers here don't even possess guns, and most robberies see the end
result that the owner just gives them their money and they leave
without harming anyone, or the robbers get freaked out about something
and flee."EVERYONE has a gun in the US? Everyone pulls one out when robbed? Really? I lived a lot of years in the US and I never met a single person who owned a gun. The impression someone might get from reading the above quote is that life in the US today is like the "Old West" - middle class Americans walking around with guns in holsters. Is this the way it is? Not my experience!No informed person will dispute that there is a lot of crime in the US. Most of the crime, though, occurs in very poor and marginalized neighborhoods. Here there is a lot of crime in middle class and better neighborhoods. There are also kidnappings and hold ups (yes, Old West style!) in restaurants. These were more common at the peak of the crisis but they haven't totally disappeared. I doubt that you can find a Porteno who does not have numerous stories of crime that has affected family members and friends. I don't think as many Americans have come so close to crime as the people of Buenos Aires.

 

[ericdharma]

This is a very interesting topic to me because I hear such different views about the level of crime here. I always hear people from the U.S. and Europe talking about how much "safer" it is here than at home but I always hear locals talking about how dangerous it is. I stay "glued" to the news and I have seen quite a few incidents that have made me feel not so safe. What I have noticed from watching the news here is that in Buenos Aires criminals seem to target middle class and older people who actually live in nice areas that are not very well policed. Violent crimes against older defenseless people seem to happen more frequently here in Buenos Aires than in my home city in the U.S. What is also different here is that people living in very well to do, well policed areas like Palermo and Recoleta still wind up in home invasion situations and muggings, robberies, etc. That does not happen so much in the U.S. I would agree that there is a lot of crime in my country but it tends to happen in predictable areas. The other thing that seems to be different to me about Buenos Aires vs. the U.S. is that in the U.S. a gang of criminals cannot continue to work in the same area without being caught. If a group of criminals continues robbing people in the same area in the same way in the U.S. the security of that area is increased and the criminals are caught and thrown in jail. For some reason that doesn't seem to happen to the same degree here. I don't know if the police are corrupt or if there just aren't enough policemen. I think that most of the problems with violent crime that we have in America come from crazy people with guns just "losing it" and lashing out against society indiscriminantly. That is a problem which doesn't seem to exist to the same degree here in Argentina.