On Robbery and the Nature of Argentine Life

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I’m not sure if this sufficiently constitutes a blog, but I will now describe the events that took place during my mugging--which is actually somewhat revelatory of Argentine life. I say this because it occurred while I was walking to church, through a well-lit park, La Plaza de San Martín. I was on my own and well dressed, so I suppose I constituted target, but I don’t think I was overtly foreign; I sat on the park bench under a light reading for over and hour without incident. Only ten minutes before the mass, I got up and walked toward the church only a block away.
At about 7:20 pm, three young men walked towards me. I was shocked when one quickly had me by the arm and the two larger ones, each one of whom also had me by an arm, quickly circled behind me. I didn’t even know what was happening until the short one declared “Esto es un robo,” while the other two quickly and expertly frisked my pockets. “¿Dondé esta la plata?” they asked again and again. Within fifteen seconds it was all over; they had taken my wallet and thrown everything else on the ground while running away-- no one was stopping them. “Iba la iglesia,” I shouted when they had got 50 feet away, “¡Son pecadores que van al infierno!” In retrospect I probably could have thought of something better.
It shocks me that though it was a well-lit area and there were many people around, no one helped me. Even the police wouldn’t escort me to the station where I issued a report. The only person who seemed to care about my plight may have been the half-senile priest.
This is the nature of Argentina, where within sight of the monument to the Malvinas War, in the middle of a beautiful park, you can still be mugged. For all the European flavor of this city, this was a stark reminder of its Faulkernian faded glory; we are still in Latin America—something I should have recognized from the start. These types of incidents are indicative of a larger lack of faith in the police and in the population of this country. Perhaps I can now begin to see why the pessimism in this country exists. Argentines seek stability, but also use force and violence to achieve their ends, be they as hinchas supporting their team or criminals seeking looking for cash.

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