Most Argentines, I suppose, heard that many years ago Argentina was an economic power, the seventh in the world, some need.
In the book by the writer and journalist John Gunther, “Inside Latin America”, published in 1941a chapter entitled “The Argentine Complex”. I assumed he was probably referring to those times when we thought we were going to be a world power. In fact, the chapter begins as follows: “We now arrive in Argentina. Here is the richest state in Latin America, the most progressive from a material point of view. It is the least ‘American’ in the hemisphere, because in its roots, in its instincts, in its markets it has been broadly European; Sometimes it seems like a projection of Europe. It is a country very sensitive to conflicts and deeply proud of its mission, which is to be the dominant state of Latin America”.
According to Gunther, the Argentine’s superiority complex was actually an inferiority complex. Argentina was considered a valid competitor to the United States for leadership of the American hemisphere, but would it be capable?
Almost immediately after that introduction he relates the joke of two foreign diplomats. One says to the other referring to Argentina. “I was here six months and I don’t understand anything.” The other answers: “I congratulate you, I was here three years and only now have I come to the same conclusion.”
For context, Gunther notes: “I have never seen traffic so violently hectic. The ugly and aggressive groups are called ‘matagente’… However, there is not a single traffic light in all of Buenos Aires, not a red, yellow, or green light. The reason: Argentines experimented with traffic lights and gave up having them because no one was going to obey them. They considered themselves superior to those mechanical controls.”
At the time the journalist visited the country, 70% of Argentines lived from agriculture, and 95% of their exports were agricultural products. The land was so fertile in some areas that it did not even need fertilizers; wheat was planted and harvested twice a year, which for a country like the United States with generally frigid winters, was a striking feature. They also did not have racial problems and, with the lack of political sensitivity of the time, Gunther concluded, to explain this fact, that we Argentines had mostly killed our indigenous people who were nomadic anyway.
The oligarchy, according to the journalist’s view, was the most chic, the most sophisticated and the most intellectually cultivated that existed in any country he had visited. However, one of its members, to explain the decline of that class, ventured that the majority had no brains. They did not understand or notice the situation of the country in which they lived, and they were not interested in “giving back” to society what their economic advantages had allowed them to have.
The journalist considered two reasons why fascism could grow alarmingly in Argentina. The first: dissatisfaction among young people who had never seen democracy work efficiently. The second: the influence of the military, largely trained by Germans.
There are several paragraphs about the German presence in Argentina at that time, despite its neutrality. When Argentines were asked why they did not support the Allies with more conviction, they replied that it was better not to get involved, because Hitler was likely to win the war anyway.
Regarding the political situation at the time, it was divided between conservatives and radicals. One radical commented that “no one has defined a radical exactly. “They are a bit like the radicals before Vichy in France, not so much a party but a state of mind.” There were also socialists. Alfredo Palacios was the only senator of that movement and stood out for his oratory gift. Another socialist, Mario Bravo, spoke French perfectly and insisted that Argentina must be a happy country: it had no racial problems, no unassimilated foreigners and few inhabitants, but he also observed that a terrible despair afflicted the country. Gunther said that “like all socialists, Bravo is an optimist and believes that better times will come.”
Some, optimistic or not, will say that even today, in 2023, we are still waiting.
By Flaminia Ocampo. Writer
by Flaminia Ocampo
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