Visible Differences: Buenos Aires (YO)

Just two days ago, I had one of the best and slightly terrifying experiences in Buenos Aires thus far. It taught me a lot about the dissimilarities between my host country and my home country bar none!

A large group of people headed from the subway station to the streets to support Cristina

Since all of the students a part of this program are international students that are staying here for an extended period of time, we all need visas. So the day before yesterday was the second (and main) part of the three step process for us obtaining our visas. Surprisingly though, this day turned out to be the same day that former Argentine President, Cristina Kirchner was beginning her trial for her involvement in the illegal use of public funds. As such, hundreds of her devoted followers came from all around the city and its provinces to show their support. 

Knowing this the day before the rally and needing to arrive at the immigration building at 10 am, I decided to leave my house an hour and a half beforehand. Well, long story short that didn´t happen. I ended up leaving an hour beforehand and now I am so happy that I did!

I got on my usual line B for the subway and rode it to the end of the line. It was about 9:30 once I got off the train and I knew I had plenty of time to get to the building at 10. Then I checked my phone for directions but there was no Wi-Fi and it was raining very badly. So I decided to take a taxi to the building instead. However, the taxi driver told me there was no way to get there. The court house that Cristina was at was right next to the immigration building with all her supporters which were blocking traffic in every direction. So I asked the taxi driver for directions and was sure I would still get there on time...well we all have to be wrong sometimes.

I can do a lot of things but take directions is not one of them. Regardless of the language, I think my brain just shuts off when people start telling me which way to go. So of course I got lost and while I was on the right street I was walking in the wrong direction. Finally, someone who knew where the building was pointed me in the right direction but as fate would have it I ended up walking right in the middle of the march for Cristina!

People all around me were cheering, shouting, singing, setting off smoke bombs, and I´m pretty sure there were some celebratory gunshots too. Oh, did I mention that I am not a Crisitina supporter and was the only person in that crowd of visible African descent. (Relations between Afro-Argentines and Euro-Argentines are turbulent and an important topic. Here is an article that briefly touches on some general themes if you are interested.) So to say the least I was nervous. Thankfully, the crowd eventually lead me exactly to where I needed to be and I was nothing less than ecstatic. In the end I arrived 30 minutes late, dripping wet, and still completed my visa process!

A person on the street selling Cristina flags

All of this is to say that I learned a lot more about the political infrastructure and public transportation of Buenos Aires that day than I intended to. First, public transportation and the city overall adapts to the people instead of vice-versa. Protests, marches, and movements are common in the city. The municipal government and the general public are accepting of this and adjust to it as needed. So even though public transit is much more common, cheaper, and quicker than private vehicles, if safety becomes an issue due to large protests then the city simply adapts. In those cases many people will either take the bus (instead of the subway), take a taxi or just walk. (Thankfully I got on the subway before it got too crazy!)

Secondly, Argentines are deeply involved in the politics of their country. Views on the role of the government differ from person to person. This makes it difficult for me to categorize the overall political ideology here. However, I learned that in spite of Cristina´s (almost evident) corruption through the years, she continues to have many loyal supporters. This is due to her attentiveness to those living in poverty, a decrease in inflation during her presidency, and immense involvement with human rights organizations. Overall, the former president helped a lot of Argentine people thereby making her corruption almost irrelevant by way of her care towards the general public. Still, many other Argentines find all the corruption that Cristina is associated with inexcusable. They expect their government to be honest and to always do what is in the best interest of the people and not themselves. The services they provide can range from academic assistance to social programs for young, unemployed mothers. Nevertheless, if these actions are fueled by wrongful intentions then they do not go unnoticed by many Argentines.

The cultural distinctions here are apparent everywhere. As such I thought this story would uniquely sum up a noteworthy experience. Not only did it show me the ways people are willing to express their commitment to a person or an idea but I also learned that these differences are not something to quickly judge or dismiss. At first, I could not understand how anyone could support someone like Cristina Kirchner. Then I remembered how we all live different lives and have our reasons for the outlooks on life that we gain overtime. Meaning that even though things like corruption are unequivocally wrong, another person´s reasons to look past it are not so black and white, if you can learn to accept such a visible difference.