Tourist killed in Plaza San Martin

[allcraz]

If you were on the Facultad de Medicina side of Cordoba you were technically in Recoleta and this is one of the most dangerous areas of Recoleta at night.

We have to stop concentrating so religiously on where these incidents take place. They can happen anywhere in city. Name a neighborhood or a street corner and I'm pretty sure someone will write saying they or someone they know was robbed there. My point is that I, too, tend to ask "Where did it happen?" as is only natural, but we have to realize that unfortunately, we must be extra aware at ALL times and in ALL places if we are going to live in this city. You can seek out the least sketchiest way home, but it doesn't guarantee anything.

I lived a block from Facultad for over 2 years and will be moving back in a matter of months. I never experienced any incidents, but that doesn't mean it won't happen. I refuse to live in fear. If I were to ever get to the point that I felt fear while walking on this city's streets, I would certainly have to persuade my husband to move.

 

[steveinbsas]

I also posted about walking on Av Santa Fe near Callo. An elderly couple were sitting at a table on the sidewalk next to the curb. The man had an English guidebook in his hands and his wallet was open on the table in front of him. His wife's purse was hung on the back of her chair...actually dangling over the curb.

I stopped and quickly explained the danger to which they were vulnerable, telling the man to get his wallet off the table and his wife to put her purse in her lap. They were shocked that any danger existed...as if they were at a restaurant on Martha's Vineyard.

 

[pauper]

What I meant by my comment was that this villa miseria shouldn't have been allowed to have started in the first place. The land isn't theirs, and the size and proximity to the city center is dangerous to the locals who live there and the tourists who visit that busy part of the city. You have luxury hotels looking down a villa... a villa that was allowed to spring up by a government that seems to be sitting on their hands.

There has been a villa there since the late 1930's. The demographic makeup has changed over the years with the changing waves of immigration to Argentina - they have been highly organised as a community for decades as this is obviously a prize piece of real estate. The fact that they are still there is testament to the fact that moving them is not an easy proposition for any administration (nor perhaps even a desirable one).

 

[Andrewchase]

It's like it happened in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier in Arlington. The police are a huge disappointment here and in most of Latin America. The police don't prevent crime in general and I've seen them just stand there while laws are broken. Laws seem to be guidelines here. Well, it's no secret Argentine society is a disappointment to me. Can't want to leave here. Counting the days.

 

[steveinbsas]

We have to stop concentrating so religiously on where these incidents take place. They can happen anywhere in city. Name a neighborhood or a street corner and I'm pretty sure someone will write saying they or someone they know was robbed there.

In BA I actually witnesses two daytime muggings; one in the streets of San Telmo and one in Palermo (on Charcas at Colonel Diaz) very close to my apartment.

Two thugs also tried to get into my apartment in Recoleta while I was in the USA. They didn'nt know I wasn't there. They got intothe building at midnight as two of my neighbors were entering the front door. The would be robbers told them thet were there to see me and pulled a knife on my neighbors at the elevator.

Fortunately, no one was hurt. Apparently my neighors didn't have anything worth stealing.

Where I live now robberies are nonexistent and burglaries only happen in abandoned buildings (bathroom and kitchen hardware are uaually the only prize). No one would dream of being a squatter here, either. It simply isn't tolerated.

 

[Stafford]

The final two sentences in Clarín's article about it are very well written.

Laurent era un fotógrafo naturalista. Su pasión por la naturaleza, el buceo, la vida silvestre y la fotografía lo había llevado a recorrer diferentes destinos del mundo, incluidos varios viajes a Groenlandia, el norte de Canadá y Kamchatka. La muerte lo encontró en Buenos Aires.

"Una verguenza" seems to be the most common response from Argentine people commenting on articles written about this story around the web. And it most certainly is.

Now the story is getting totally buried. Luis Alberto Spinetta just died. So that's going to dominate the news for the next few days. Macri is probably not too upset about that. PR disaster averted.

 

[rihornos]

Horrible news that the french man died I dont think Spinetta´s death will bury this death. I heard it on the radio and now is clear that there is a need for more police..
Reina

 

[Stafford]

I dont think Spinetta´s death will bury this death. I heard it on the radio and now is clear that there is a need for more police..
Reina

Bet you a doughnut it gets buried! Go to any argentine newpaper right now and see what they're all talking about...

What happened in Plaza S Martin is history after today. I would love to be wrong about this...

 

[steveinbsas]

I refuse to live in fear. If I were to ever get to the point that I felt fear while walking on this city's streets, I would certainly have to persuade my husband to move.

I daresay that you will always find yourselves welcome (as well as fearless) in the south of Provincia Bs. As.

 

[allcraz]

I daresay that you will always find yourselves welcome (as well as fearless) in the south of Provincia Bs. As.

Thank you Steve. We'll keep it in mind.