Word: argentina
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
While driving through the Buenos Aires suburb of La Lucila last September, Juan and Jorge Born, members of one of Argentina's richest families, were abducted by left-wing Montonero guerrillas. As a trainload of commuters watched in horror, the Montoneros, posing as policemen and telephone workers, forced the Borns' limousine into a side street, shot and killed their chauffeur and a business associate who was riding with them, and seized the brothers. Both were executives in the family-owned Bunge y Born, the largest privately owned firm in Argentina (grain, metals, Pharmaceuticals, textiles...
There have been more than 500 political assassinations in the past twelve months alone, and inflation is currently running at an annual rate of 80% in Argentina, a country that is approaching the edge of chaos. Isabel Perón, who succeeded her husband as President after his death last July, has been unable to reverse two disastrous trends: the terrorist campaign of kidnaping and murder being waged by rival extremist groups of both the left and the right, and the steady collapse of what was once Latin America 's most prosperous economy. Last week TIME Buenos Aires Correspondent...
Recklessness with money is a constant that runs through the 30-year history of Peronism. During his first years as President, Juan Perón depleted Argentina's once rich treasury to gain support among the legions of descamisados (the shirtless ones), who soon came to expect generous social-welfare spending by the government. Now that tradition of bounty has come to a screeching halt and with it, in the opinion of many observers, the sway of the old-line Peronists who served with el Líder in the years of glory. Taking their place are officials loyal...
...forewarn of that danger, the Buenos Aires daily La Opinión last week published a front-page editorial entitled "For Whom the Bell Tolls." In an appeal for return to political decency by all groups, the paper intoned: "In the Argentina of today, the death of anyone diminishes the rest; the bells do not toll [just] for those killed [by political extremists], they toll for the rest of their compatriots...
...scratched the surface. In several countries, bribes must be routinely passed out to minor functionaries just to get licenses or even make sure that an American executive's household furniture clears customs. Payoffs to government officials to influence their buying decisions are also common in such countries as Argentina, Indonesia and almost any place in the Middle East...