Level of Violence in Buenos Aires?

[charliebluehawk]

Hello,
I am in the midst of relocating myself and my business to Buenos Aires and my friends keep telling me about the "violence" in the city.
I am from Los Angeles and New York, so such statements do not mean much to me, but I hope to be meeting breathtakingly beautiful Argentine women and am looking for a new place to call home.
I was wondering if anyone has any personal experiences - or is this simply another example of a "overblown situation?"
I am also an "International Executive Corporate Consultant" who is looking for assignments in Buenos Aires. I have been doing this kind of work for 24 years, and you can learn more about me on my website: http://www.charliebluehawk.com.
Thanks!
Charlie

 

[citygirl]

More importantly than the violence issue - I'm assuming you are familiar with the challenging business climate here?! If not, please do your due diligence - this is NOT the easiest place to do businesses, taxes are high, employee-favorable labor laws are the norm, there are a lot of hidden costs, etc.

Re: violence. It's a big city in a bad economy. IMO (as a former NYer), with street smarts, you eliminate many of the risks but it definitely has a much higher percentage of "street crime" - purse-snatchings, muggings, car thefts, etc than NY. Dangerous - no. A city you must exercise a high level of street smarts in - yes.

 

[tangobob]

More importantly than the violence issue - I'm assuming you are familiar with the challenging business climate here?! If not, please do your due diligence - this is NOT the easiest place to do businesses, taxes are high, employee-favorable labor laws are the norm, there are a lot of hidden costs, etc.

Re: violence. It's a big city in a bad economy. IMO (as a former NYer), with street smarts, you eliminate many of the risks but it definitely has a much higher percentage of "street crime" - purse-snatchings, muggings, car thefts, etc than NY. Dangerous - no. A city you must exercise a high level of street smarts in - yes.

This is a good well thought out answer.
You will here on this site time and again "Ihad afreind who told me" or "I was told" these storys magnify any issues.
Street crime is a problem, I do not know anyone who has not had some issue with it, but if you are smart and do not advertise yourself , you can survive without too much problem.

To see how I survived a robbery attempt go to
http://tangogales.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/gridlock/

 

[bloody_bloo]

- this is NOT the easiest place to do businesses, taxes are high, employee-favorable labor laws are the norm, there are a lot of hidden costs, etc.

I back that statement.

From the perspective of an entrepreneur it is required you prepare yourself to walk the line between legal and illegal, sometimes even cross it.

Depending on the business type you may need to: bribe; hold as much as you can some tax payments; hire labor without any formal contract; have a double accounting system, the real one, and the one used to pay income taxes and vat taxes; fake a bankrupt ... etc.

Non of this is necessary when you come as a corporation and are willing to fund some politician elections campaign or you are part of a financial or banking group that lends money to de government (most recent examples: Mining Companies), but i think that's not your case.

Advice: this is a very shuffle country if you become a good skipper you will make enough money, in the SME segment it isn't smart to invest at the same rate your sales grow, you will end up loosing your company.

 

[ReemsterCARP]

More importantly than the violence issue - I'm assuming you are familiar with the challenging business climate here?! If not, please do your due diligence - this is NOT the easiest place to do businesses, taxes are high, employee-favorable labor laws are the norm, there are a lot of hidden costs, etc.

Re: violence. It's a big city in a bad economy. IMO (as a former NYer), with street smarts, you eliminate many of the risks but it definitely has a much higher percentage of "street crime" - purse-snatchings, muggings, car thefts, etc than NY. Dangerous - no. A city you must exercise a high level of street smarts in - yes.

Citygirl, 10/10.

 

[Ryoga]

Hello,

I am from Los Angeles and New York, so such statements do not mean much to me, but I hope to be meeting breathtakingly beautiful Argentine women and am looking for a new place to call home.

Charlie

get them while they are young.. because they age exponentially, post 26 is no good

anyway, they do have attitudes, but its a lot better than the catering to an angeleno or being quantified by a new yorker ; )


anyway, im out of here as of today... its going to be a real culture shock

 

[conifer]

I'd advise anyone who is thinking of doing business here to think very carefully. There's a lot of shucking and jiving necessary. It gets tiring dealing with all the crap when all you want to do is create a good business.

 

[citygirl]

We (the company that I work for) started a business here in Arg last August. We do everything 100% by the books, everything in blanco and while we have *never* been asked for a bribe, the paperwork is exhausting, the costs are high, the employer burden is onerous - this is not the easiest place to do business and I've started up companies in multiple countries.

We have never done any of the things mentioned by bloody_boo - but we're a corporation which provides a level of protection. I think individual entrepeneurs are hit harder. However, our costs have increased greatly in just a few months, I shudder to think what they will be down the road. And I swear, there is a new check to sign on a new tax that needs to be paid every day. Rules and regulations change weekly (and sometimes daily here). For instance - we have a global banking account with HSBC. HSBCnet works everywhere in the world - except here. Every week there is a new form to sign and yet I still can't pay my employees through their system.

Anyway, I don't know what type of business the OP has or intends to engage in but for his sake, I hope he is aware of the difficulties.

 

[conifer]

I find the level of corruption here to be very frustrating. Whenever there is a problem, locals advise to to just bribe someone, but I have never been able to find someone bribable! It would be so much simpler sometimes to be able to just paysome extra to get on the fast track, or off the radar. But I've found the level of corruption at the level most business owners deal with to be very low. Laziness and incompetence is easy to find, but for me, not the corruption.

 

[sergio]

I do not know a single small / medium size businessman here who doesn´t do the things the way bloody talks about. If you come here thinking you are going to start a business and do it the traditional Anglo-Saxon way, forget it. You will fail. Anyway, we are getting off track...The question was about violence. There are various threads about this. Some expats say ´there is violence everywhere´. Personally I don´t know many people in the US who have been robbed. I know plenty here including myself.