Economist.com Cities Guide: Buenos Aires Briefing - May 2005

News this month

In hock

Almost four years after the Argentine government staged the largest-ever loan default, the economics department at the University of Buenos Aires has opened a museum commemorating foreign debt. It will feature temporary touring exhibitions lasting six months each. The first, entitled “Foreign Debt: Never Again”, outlines the problem dating from 1810, when the United States and Britain dominated the local economy, and ends with the IMF default. It features videos, photographs, works of art, an archive of 1,200 documents and a research centre. Simón Pristupín, the project's director, told the press, “Foreign debt is one of the principal factors that have contributed to our crisis, provoking hunger and poverty...[T]he university has to leave its ivory tower to help the citizens understand how the process of debt came about.”

The exhibition's tone is darkly comic: a mock kitchen shows the disastrous “economic recipes” Argentina adopted, and visitors can enter a “black hole”, where the loans ended up. Statues of San Cayetano, the patron saint of employment, dot the exhibition, representing the increasing number of unemployed Argentines. The museum opened to the public in late April at Uriburu 763, in the suburb of Barrio Norte. Entry is free, and the museum is principally staffed by volunteers.

Culture vultures

Buenos Aires's thriving culture industry is now one of the city's primary employers, accounting for more than 10% of the local economy. This puts it well ahead of the construction industry and only slightly behind manufacturing. Moreover, Buenos Aires accounts for 80% of the country's cultural activity.

The city has become particularly attractive to foreign film companies since the peso was devalued in 2002. The number of foreign commercials shot in Buenos Aires rose six times from 2003 to 2004. According to the capital's Culture Secretariat, the publishing industry grew by 44%, printing a total of 55m products, while sales of books, videos, compact discs and cinema tickets increased by about 20% overall.

Subway drive

Aníbal Ibarra, the mayor of Buenos Aires, is looking for financial advisors to help him raise $1 billion for an extension of the city's subway system. He announced his intention during an April visit to Washington to get $130m from the World Bank for anti-flooding work, and to discuss a $200m loan to renovate the stately Colón opera house. He plans to tour Madrid, Paris and London in late May to find a bank that will manage the operation.

On Mr Ibarra's watch, four of the city's five subway lines are either being extended or have extension plans in the works, while the first stage of a sixth line, Line H, will be inaugurated next year. The money will pay for three new lines: Line F, which will run from Constitutión train station to Palermo; Line G, from Retiro train station to Caballito; and Line I, running from Palermo to Parque Chacabuco. Line H is the first new line in 60 years, and will help join the disconnected northern and southern ends of Buenos Aires to the rest of the city. The new lines will extend the total length of the subway system to 89 kilometres, and will insure that two-thirds of city residents live five blocks or less from a station.

Quilmes bigots?

Quilmes, one of the city's top football clubs, has found itself at the centre of an international scandal over accusations of racism. Following a recent match against Brazilian side San Pablo, a Quilmes player, Leandro Desábato, allegedly called Edinaldo Batista Libanio, who plays for San Pablo and is better known as Grafite, a “shitty nigger”. He spent almost two days in a Brazilian prison for “insults aggravated by discrimination”, and Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, called the comments “one step further in the escalation of the discrimination against players of African descent, including Brazilians”.

The only problem is that the comments may not have been made: Mr Desábato admitted insulting Grafite, but claimed he was responding to his rival's pre-match slanging, and denied using any racist terms. Lip-readers who examined videos of the incident back Mr Desábato's side of the story. Meanwhile, Grafite says he intends to sue Mr Desábato, while the president of Quilmes claimed to have reports detailing “false testimony, undue arrest and abuse of authority”, which he may present to the state of San Pablo.

Health problems

In an effort to draw attention to their demands for more money and job security, public-health workers are creating turmoil in the city of Buenos Aires and the surrounding province. They are cancelling an increasing number of medical operations and consultations, although they are still handling emergency cases. Strikers have also blocked important roads, including the Riccheri motorway, which leads to the city's main international airport.

The workers are lobbying for a rise in the minimum public sector wage, from around US$135 to US$260 a month, the official cost of a basic basket of food and essential goods. They are also pushing for permanent jobs for 14,000 employees currently on short-term contracts. So far the city government has offered a US$14 raise, and permanent jobs for 500 employees. The workers' union is demanding official recognition for the CTA, an umbrella organisation for left-leaning unions. The government of president Néstor Kirchner has made some overtures to the CTA, but has largely limited relations to its more conservative rival, the CGT, in recent months.

Catch if you can

May 2005

Buenos Aires Jazz

May 10th-24th 2005

This annual jazz festival, organised by the city council, features a sampling of trends in Argentine jazz, ranging from standards to fusion. It kicks off this year with a concert by Luis Alberto Spinetta, a home-grown rock-star who first came to prominence in the 1970s, and finishes with a performance by Pedro Aznar, a former member of Serú Girán a legendary Argentine rock band.

There will be a range of accompanying events during the rest of the fortnight, including round-tables and music clinics for novices, presented by leading musicians. Artists include Ricardo Silveira from Brazil, Hugo Fattoruso from Uruguay and the Trío Lugo from Cuba. Nearly all shows are free of charge.

See the festival's wesbite.

More from the Buenos Aires cultural calendar