Argentina

Argentina is a very large country on the southeast of South America, running from the polar south to the tropical north. The population is very European in ancestry, with roughly half being pure-European in background, and another large section being mostly European in background.

It has a large Arab population (9±%), but which is intermarried and assimilated into the country’s larger demographic This is because it is heavily Maronite (Catholic) Lebanese who assimilate well.

Interestingly, Argentina has around 180,000 Jews – the seventh largest Jewish population in the world – and they can be politically active.

Great NY Times Article on Jews of the Pampas

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Source: Outpost on Pampas Where Jews Once Found Refuge Wilts as They Leave
New York Times
by Simon Romero
June 9, 2013

MOISÉS VILLE, Argentina — At its height in the 1940s, this outpost on Argentina’s grasslands had four synagogues for a population of 5,000, a theater for Yiddish-language acting troupes, a newspaper filled with feverish debates about the creation of the state of Israel and saloons where Jewish gauchos galloping in from the pampas could nurse a drink alongside fellow cowhands.

Now, Moisés Ville, founded in 1889 by Jews fleeing the pogroms of the Czarist Russian empire, has only about 200 Jews among its 2,000 residents. The last regularly functioning synagogue lacks a rabbi. The Hebrew school halted classes this year because of the dwindling number of Jewish children. Some of the last remaining Jewish gauchos have swapped their horses for Ford pickup trucks, and they now ponder the future of their way of life.

(Read More)

Great Article: Read the rest of it at the link above
Great Video: See them both below


Goodbye, Columbus!

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Goodbye, Columbus!


Posted on YouTube: July 3, 2013

Argentina tried to replace the statue of Columbus with Juana Azurduy de Padilla. Over 50% of Argentines are Italian. The move proved to be very unpopular. It all ended up in a nasty fight (see bottom of page).

200px-Viceroyalty_of_the_Río_de_la_Plata_(orthographic_projection).svg[1]
Light Green areas were
disputed at the time.
Image: Wikipedia

Juana Azurduy de Padilla was a Latin American woman who fought bravely against the Spanish during the wars of Independence. At one point, she was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Northern Army of the Revolutionary Government of the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata. (What would become Argentina).

Though she was fighting for the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata (Argentina), the town where she was born and died is now part of Bolivia.

The Spanish Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata once included Uruguay and parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, Chile, and Brazil, as well what is now Argentina.  The borders would not be settled for decades.

Being half-indigenous, and a woman, she would be a politically correct hero – but more than that, she really does deserve the honor. But couldn’t they have put her statue next to Columbus?

There is a province named after her in Bolivia.

She, indeed, was a hero; but you don’t take down Columbus’ statue. You find a new place for her.

NOTE: They argued about this for years. Eventually, the Columbus statue was just moved to another area of Buenos Aires in 2017.

May 5, 2021 – Edited: Had to find new video. Made mobile friendly. Added and changed text to update the story.

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