So, Argentina lost. They are out. They were beat, fair and square, by a far superior team. But, it was a harsh reality for Argentines. I watched the game in a stadium yesterday with a massive screen and about 4000 of the teams biggest fans. When the game was over, 4-0 Germany, I walked out of the stadium, head hung low and sad to see the team go. However, I took it a lot better than most of the fans. I saw dozens, and I am not even exaggerating here, dozens of grown men weeping because of Argentina´s loss yesterday. Small boys were in tears, their fathers were in tears, their wives were likely at home, taking care of the house and sighing a sigh of relief that their husband might once again aknowledge their presence. Last night I was walking along a very small side street in the Caballito neighborhood of BA. On a dark street corner, at roughly 11PM, two very drunk kids were playing a drum (The same drum that is typìcally brought to, and played at, soccer games to cheer the team on) and singing the song to cheer on the Argentine team. "Vamos vamos Argentina, Vamos vamos a ganar." I wanted to go up to them and tell them that, no, Argentina is not going to win, because Argentina lost. However, I did not, I would let them continue living in their denial because hell, they didn´t look like they had much else going for them.
As for the other commentary of the day...I was reading el Clarin this morning. Clarin is the most widely circulated newspaper in Argentina. It is based here in Buenos Aires, is a corporate sponsor for everything, and its owner, Herrera Noble, also owns most of the TV channels, radio stations, and magazines in the country. Therefore, she is one powerful woman. Now, an Argentine, one of the coordinators at FLACSO, came up to me one day when I was reading this newspaper and asked me why I was reading "such conservative bullshit." I reacted that I had no idea what the ideological tilt of the paper was, that I read it because it is the most accessible for me, and that since my knowledge of the country and its politics is so limited, that I cannot spot a lie when I see one. He assured me that even though I couldn´t spot it, the newspaper was all lied. I asked him what else I should get, and he said that La Nacion is good, however fascist and Pagina 12 is okay but so far skewed to the left for its own good. Well, facist, too liberal or too conservative and all lies...what does that leave me for choices? Anyways, now that I know a little bit about Argentina and its history, I found an article in Clarin today that perfectly illustrates the point that Juan was making. A little background. During the last military dictatorship, many female political prisoners were captured while they were pregnant. They were tortured and detained just like the rest of the prisoners until the last few weeks of their pregnancy when they were transfered to a special ward to recieve medical attention and deliver their children. Of course, what happened, most of the time, when they delivered their children is that the kids were taken from them and they were killed. The kids ended up in adoption agencies or gifted to people in high places with lots of power, money, and connections with the military. Just recently, with all the human rights politicization that has come out of the Kirchner regimes, DNA tests have been taking place of orphans that were adopted during the military dictatorship to see if they were indeed children of these murdered political prisoners. Well, the media mogul and owner of Clarin, Herrera de Noble, happens to have two children that were adopted during the military dictatorship and the current administration seems to think that her kids were children of "desaparecidos" (what they called the disappeared prisoners - disappeared because they never found their bodies). So, Herrera got her crack team of lawyers together to stop the DNA test of her kids, because, for whatever reason, she didnt want the truth known. She succeeded in stopping the test, however, Argentine Truth Laws dictate that even if the children refuse DNA tests, the police have the right to enter in their house and take tooth brushes or any other personal effects to do testing on. Well, apparently, the police entered her children´s houses (who are now in their 30s) and tested their goods and have now concluded that they are in fact children of los desaparecidos. So, Clarin, which clearly has an unbiased hand in the whole affair, considering its owners children are the subject of this investigation, put out an interview today with the head of operations of a DNA base that retired a few years back. The report made clear Clarins non biased reporting on the subject. The subtitle of the article: "The presigious geneticist speaks of the possibility that none of the DNA tests are valid". Here are some of the very un biased questions asked to her: "They talk about the failure of DNA tests. Is that possible? When you were director, did any of the tests fail?" and "What do you think is the possibility of these tests being done inaccurately?" and "Is it posssible that the results from the entrance in their homes have been tainted and therefore have no value?" Thank you Clarin for your crack reporting.
No comments:
Post a Comment