My Visit To Buenos Aires

Your crime stories, while lurid and exciting, are just a wee bit exagerated, and you are blurring together carjacking, which is still quite rare, with car theft, which occurs everywhere in the world, including quite often in the USA- my son's honda was stolen in bucolic Bellingham Wa. just a couple of months ago.

The larger question though, is why the OP, Original Poster, would ever consider moving to a working class suburb like you describe.
He is thinking of retiring to Buenos Aires, which is very different for a sixty something person, as opposed to a thirty something person who moves to Argentina for love.

I can think of six different expat couples, including myself and my wife, who have homes here- and every one of the twelve of us have travelled extensively around the world, and purposely CHOSE Buenos Aires, based on knowing what its like here, versus London, or Tokyo, Rome or Vancouver, NYC, or Singapore.
None of us would ever move to Quilmes or Haedo or Remedios de Escalada-
all six couples live in the Banana Belt between Congresso and Belgrano.

And, crime conditions in that area are NOT what you describe. Home invasions, or random burglaries are much rarer in doorman buildings in Palermo than they would be Way Out There where you apparently live.

None of us, for example, own cars- all of these couples, from Canada, the US, and Australia, specifically chose the neighborhoods we live in because public transportation is so good, cheap, available, and safe. So,no parking issues, no car repair and ownership expenses, no hassles with insurance, and no worries about carjacking, car prowls, or car theft.

Again, for the twelve people I know, who are all retired or very close to it, our biggest crime issues are random, usually non violent, street crime, pickpockets on the Subte (who do NOT just target tourists- if you travel on the Subte very often, you see very few tourists, but thousands of argentines wearing backpacks in the front).

One issue you dont address- the safety here, for single women, is just off the charts, compared to many other places.
I routinely see single women, ranging from teenagers to 70 plus, out at all hours of the night, riding collectivos, and walking the dog at 2 am.
Compare this to virtually any city in the USA- its much safer here. I come home from concerts at midnight to 4 am all the time, on the collectivo, and see single women every single time. At 2 am, you see women on the street, all over the center of the city. This does NOT happen in Seattle, or LA, or NYC, or Mexico City, or Bangkok.
Women here just take it for granted. Certainly, rape exists, but not at the level in most cities this size.
 
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