Economist.com Cities Guide: Buenos Aires Briefing - February 2006

News this month

Piqueteros v police

Two former Buenos Aires policemen, Alfredo Fanchiotti and Alejandro Acosta, were sentenced in January to life in prison for murdering two piqueteros, or jobless protestors, in 2002. Mr Fanchiotti, a former police commissioner, and Mr Acosta, his driver, were also convicted of attempting to kill a further seven demonstrators. Six other ex-officers received lesser sentences, mainly for covering up the crime. The murders occurred during a demonstration in the city’s Avellaneda district in the midst of widespread trouble in June 2002. The incident caused such outrage that Eduardo Duhalde, then president, had to cut short his term and call early elections.

The victims’ families and piqueteros celebrated the verdict outside the courthouse, but urged further scrutiny of the so-called “Avellaneda massacre”. They argue that police brutality was the direct result of government pressure to clamp down on unrest, which was rife at a time when almost 60% of the country was below the poverty line, compared with less than 40% in June 2005. Such complaints are in theory being dealt with in court: the judges in charge of the piquetero case ordered the province’s former justice minister and other officials to be tried for perjury, and a parallel case is examining the role of several politicians—including Mr Duhalde—in the massacre. But few expect these trials to progress: not only are the courts reluctant to convict their political masters, but there is little more than circumstantial evidence against them.

Standing firm

Aníbal Ibarra, the mayor of Buenos Aires, has shown surprising resilience despite being suspended from office. Hearings to impeach Mr Ibarra began in January: he is accused of letting building inspections slip, thereby creating the conditions for a fire at the República Cromañón nightclub, which killed 193 people in December 2004. Mr Ibarra argues that the charges are unfounded, that the trial is plagued by irregularities and that he is the victim of a witch-hunt by his opponents.

Many seem to believe him. After victims’ families staged a violent demonstration outside the mayor's home, about 100 neighbours staged a counter-protest in his defence. Demonstrators have also held pro-Ibarra rallies in the city-centre—though Mr Ibarra was the one to bus many of them there. Still, it is not just the mayor’s neighbours and cronies who support him: Ricardo Rouvier, a local pollster, found that over half the city's residents don't want Mr Ibarra removed from office, compared to less than one-third who do. Moreover, despite the charges against him and a mediocre two terms in office, more respondents rated Mr Ibarra positively than negatively.

Not-so-safe deposit

A gang of thieves robbed a Buenos Aires bank in January in a heist variously described as “the robbery of the century”, “the most spectacular in the last 50 years” and “the boldest ever”. On January 13th about half a dozen men seized the Banco Río in Acassuso, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, and held 23 hostages for seven hours. Some 200 police officers surrounded the building and, after hours of negotiations with the thieves, stormed the bank. But it was too late: they had already robbed 145 safe-deposit boxes and escaped through a tunnel connected to a network of storm drains.

Police estimate the robbers stole $10m; lawyers of the heist's victims put the number closer to $70m. The bank, an affiliate of Grupo Santander, a Spanish company, has promised to reimburse its clients, but not by more than $50,000 per deposit box. Moreover, clients will have to prove how much was stolen in order to get their money—an effort some may be reluctant to make, in the event such holdings were the proceeds of tax evasion or worse. Estimates of how much was stolen are likely to remain fuzzy, so the robbers may be the only ones ever to know how much they took.

Mental case

The city government placed the Braulio Moyano women's mental hospital under emergency administration in late December after a news programme claimed that hospital staff had prostituted inmates, among other abuses. City authorities also said that patients may have been used as guinea pigs in trials by pharmaceutical companies. The hospital’s suspended director, Néstor Marchant, admitted that some of his 1,000 patients had been mistreated, but said that city officials had approved the use of inmates in drug tests—managing the hospital is, after all, the city’s responsibility. He was backed by the hospital’s unions, which declared the actions of the city government “a media show”. A court is now investigating charges of patient abuse.

Finger-pointing seems beside the point, however: conditions at the institution are clearly inadequate. The government, in addition to appointing a new administration, has allocated almost $1m for repairs, cleaning, new beds and clothing for the inmates.

Ranting and raving

Several authorities of Buenos Aires province have launched an attack on electronic music, calling for a ban on techno concerts. The province’s health minister, Claudio Mate, condemned raves as “associated with the consumption of ecstasy and other synthetic drugs”. Mr Mate was backed by Mónica Felices, ombudsman for the city of Mar del Plata, south of the capital, who said the provincial government should not allow raves on public property. Neither Mr Mate nor Ms Felices have the power to ban such events, but their denunciations may evolve into law: in January a provincial legislator presented a bill to outlaw techno parties.

The mayor of Mar del Plata, Daniel Katz, has taken a more measured line. He pointed out that previous electronic-music events had been largely problem-free. And while there were plenty of allegations of the danger of raves, “there was very little evidence.”

Catch if you can

February 2006

Marc Chagall

Until March 5th 2006

The Borges Cultural Centre in the centre of Buenos Aires is celebrating its tenth birthday with gusto, with a number of important exhibitions and film programmes. But the cherry on the cake is a show of three sets of engravings by Marc Chagall—over 200 in all—based on the Bible, the seven deadly sins and Nikolai Gogol’s novel “Dead Souls”. Chagall started producing black-and-white illustrations relatively late in his career, shortly after abandoning his native Russia at the age of 35. But he regarded the work as crucial to his artistic development. “If, as well as colour, I hadn't occupied myself with engraving and lithography,” he declared, “I think I would have been missing something.”

Centro Cultural Borges, Corner of Viamonte and San Martín, Centre. Tel: +54 (0) 11 5555-5359. Open: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm; Sun noon-9pm. See the website for details.

More from the Buenos Aires cultural calendar