Tourist killed in Plaza San Martin

[nativexpat]

La Nacion says the victim was believed to be French. Poor guy.

 

[Napoleon]

Nice for the guests at the Marriott to wake up to.

"Hey, what's going on outside?"
"Er...how about some coffee?"

Thoughts with the family though. Everyone knows it's sketchy there at night, but for this to happen at that time... Really sad.

More visible from the Sheraton and specifically, their "Park Tower". The Park Tower is a high end hotel that just stares down at the memorial. And since the guests are usually business travelers, I'm sure that they were up at that time just watching the quilombo.

 

[Crema Americana]

Very sad news. To visit a foreign land to have a good time and pay for it with your life is tragic.

Villa 31 shouldn't even be there.

 

[AndrewWoodward]

La Nacion says the victim was believed to be French. Poor guy.

Coming so soon after that murder in Salta too...


It's also worth remembering, that while we all know about the dangers of Plaza San Martin, it's not immediately obvious to tourists. I must confess I'm amazed they've let that area get so out of control, but I don't know the politics of villa 31 either. Really sad.

 

[surfing]

We found an amazing apartment at the Kavanaugh but after one walk around the block we decided: no way. Still, this is shocking and sad news.

 

[Davidglen77]

Almost directly opposite the Kavanaugh building, on the sidewalk where the steps are to enter Plaza San Martín, there is a ramp that leads to an underground municipal parking garage . One side of the ramp is surrounded by plants and bushes. Once when I was walking around inside of Plaza San Martín and happen to glance down at the ramp (the Plaza is a good 3 meters higher than the sidewalk below) I saw some very undesireable people crouching down there and as people walked by they would pop up and demand money, curse, threaten, etc. The dirt floor was covered with garbage, diapers, etc so I assume these people slept and were living there. I called the police from my cell phone and they were there within 1 minute and stopped over the area and were talking with them (I couldn't hear what was being said exactly) and the undesirables took some bags and just walked down the hill, past the Monumento de los Combatientes de Malvinas and towards Retiro. I was back there a few days later and there were other people in that spot, sleeping on the ground surrounded by garbage. It's really sad that nothing is done to preserve the integrity of the city's most important areas. The huge plaza in front of Congreso is starting to look like a tent city, people living there in makeshift tents made of garbage bags and dirty corrugated sheet metal, mattresses all over the lawns, people cooking over open fires, some have even broken open the AySA meter valves on the sidewalks in the plaza to get water out and fill buckets to wash clothes, which they then ring out and lay all over the bushes, statues and benches to dry. This government is a TOTAL failure!!

 

[sesamosinsal]

Villa 31 shouldn't even be there.

Whenever I first came to Buenos Aires in 2008, I did some short-term volunteering in the villas. We helped the kids with homework or colored up coloring books. Anyway, from my perspective the vast majority of the people in the villas are hardworking, honest folks. I never visited Villa 31, but I was in other villas like Ciudad Oculta or Villa Soldati. They may not have a lot of stuff, but they do have the same hopes and dreams as everyone else.

If Villa 31 shouldn't even be there, where should these people go? There really isn't an easy solution. If the government tries to help these people get ahead, then everyone comes out to complain that their taxes are going to a bunch of "lazy people" and "imigrantes negros de mi*rda". (Read the comment sections on Clarin.com, Infobae, etc.) If the government does nothing to help these people, everyone is shocked when one of them -- likely unemployed, no education, etc. -- decides to steal or kill. The government is damned if it does, damned if it doesn't.

 

[French jurist]

Agreed with Bradlyhale, I have friends in a villa, even spent a NYE there (left the party early, gunshots were fired one hour later...), and indeed there are plenty of good folks. I had even talked with "pibes chorros" there who had come, uninvited, to a birthday party. They were not welcome but no way to ask them to leave. Those young guys (16/17) are so lost and dumb, that's hard to imagine. They go for "shopping" during the day, then come back late afternoon to sell cellphones and such (with no idea about the prices btw).

Had once a problem near Retiro, while coming out of the Centro Cultural Borges. I was with my -then- girlfriend, an Argentinean woman quite rich (you can guess that from the way she dresses, etc.) and skinny. Went inside a kiosco on Florida (around 8/9pmn winter time = night), she stayed at the entrance. A young guy comes nearby me to buy something. I look at my GF and there was another young guy standing 2 feet behind her (Florida was empty and it's a large street!), she had a purse at hand but didn't notice him.
Obviously the guy was waiting for his friend but was obviously interested in stealing the purse. Well, I looked at their shoes (always look at shoes to see who runs the faster) and they had running ones... I'm 40, I smoke and I had military boots on so forget it to chaserun the guy. Nevertheless I looked at him right in his eyes and looked at his friend nearby me like: if you touch her, I touch your friend... The kiosco guy realized the situation and went nervous (my GF told me since I was looking at the two guys). Nothing happened, we left and my GF told me there was a third young guy waiting a bit further. I guess they wanted to rob the kiosco but got a bit mixed up. Close call!

One thing I already knew but that those "pibes chorros" confirmed to me is that some people have "victim's faces" (cara de victima). Look around in the subte or in the bus for such "victim's face" people, they exist.

Best attitude is not to ignore those guys, not to stare at them too much, but exchanging a look is ok. If your image is "right" (like someone looking at you can be sure you're ready to have an eye chopped off if you fight), then you'll limit your risks. One thing that may favour me though is that I'm nearly 6"3 (but thin).

The French victim was Laurent Schwebel, a French geologist with a passion for photography...
http://www.grandsespaces.ch/societe-equipe.php

 

[allcraz]

Oh my gosh I saw the scene. I was on the 61/62 this morning probably right at 11:45 and saw the area taped off with tons of people standing around. It was right at the bottom of the plaza "under" the Malvinas memorial. How awful.

 

[pez]

From TN - http://tn.com.ar/policiales/00081915/quien-era-laurent-schwebel
A French national but lives in Puerto Madryn where he works as a guide.