The View From Patagonia


 

Hunting for raptors along the flanks of the Andes and Patagonia, one is stunned by spectacular views of snow-capped mountains, cascades, lakes of every color and open range land to the east, south and west of Argentina. Looking north, the perspective is somewhat different.


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Let me start at the beginning. Back in the 1940s, when the world was younger and more innocent, I wrote a letter, under the instigation and guidance of Miss Goodsell, sixth-grade teacher at Sharon Center School, addressed to the wife of the new president of Argentina. Her name was, yes, Evita Peron.

The message was simple: "Our class is studying Argentina. Could you send us some information about your country?"

Some weeks later, a gigantic package was off-loaded at Sharon Center School. It contained samples of Argentinian chocolate, coffee, gourds and all manner of gaucho paraphernalia, from boots and hats to belts and basket-weaving materials. These became props for the school play we put on that year.

We at Sharon Center School realized already that Eva Peron was fully qualified for sainthood (with or without Madonna’s unlikely intercession). And so it was. Married to a dictator, Evita nevertheless championed the people, workers’ rights, labor law, universal education and women’s voting rights.

The Argentine economy boomed, and relations with the United States were never better. Then disaster struck. Evita Peron died of cancer in 1952. Since then, Argentina has gone through a series of military coups and neocon dictators, supported by the United States, the World Bank and the IMF, which encourages globalized "free" markets, privatization, mountains of debt, and so-called "structural adjustment," with adverse economic and social consequences.


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Today, Argentina is taking its own corrective steps to recover from the help and guidance of its big brother to the north. The curious thing is that Argentina, like so many of its South American neighbors, seems to be able to get along perfectly well without us. The rest of the world is not always so lucky.

Argentinians generally mind their own business. They already use energy-efficient neon light bulbs, as recommended by Lakeville’s Roger Liddell, in all their restaurants, hotels and public buildings. They have nuclear-free zones throughout the country.

Living their own lives, Argentinians pay little attention to the war in Iraq. However, a more internationally minded citizen asked me: "What are you North Americans doing in Iraq?" Good question! Should I answer with the latest pretext of the month from Washington? No matter, Argentinians have no intention of being lured into a "coalition of the willing" in Iraq.

Some things are immutable. Administrations come and go. Argentinians know all about that. But the beauty of the towering Andes, the jewel-like lakes, and the flight of the Andean condor, these things remain.

 


Sharon resident Anthony Piel is raptor hunting in Argentina. This column was sent from a cybercafe in the Andes.

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