Argentina

2023 - 3 - 24

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

'No one can deny it now': death flight plane to be returned to Argentina (The Guardian)

Flight logs revealed how 12 people were thrown out to their deaths into the Atlantic during the years of dictatorship.

“But I still think it has to be on display at the [death camp] museum because it is part of history now.” One entry stood out: a three-hour flight in December 1977, from the Buenos Aires city airport back to the Buenos Aires city airport, with no stop in between. “Then the plane was found in Florida, with the original flight logs intact. This was the aircraft which Ceraudo and Lewin eventually tracked down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where it was owned by a company that flies courier packages to the Bahamas. I could have died on that plane myself and many people I knew died on it. The third pilot named in the flight log, Enrique José de Saint Georges, died of natural causes awaiting trial. They included three members of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, including Villaflor, three other relatives of missing people, two French nuns and four young activists who helped the relatives in their search for their loved ones. After we published their stories, the activists tried to persuade me to join their group, and the Mothers sometimes returned if only to hold my hand in silence for 15 minutes. Two were taken from the Comet bar near the Herald offices where we had been scheduled to meet on 8 December. The FAA-registered plane is now in the hands of another US company, Win Aviation, whose owner, Andri Wiese, said he was working to finalise the logistics to return the aircraft. Then they pushed their victims out, to fall thousands of feet into the South Atlantic. On the night of 14 December 1977, the three pilots flew their turboprop aeroplane for more than an hour out over the Atlantic Ocean.

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Image courtesy of "Buenos Aires Herald"

The final voyage of Argentina's “death flights” (Buenos Aires Herald)

Every week, victims were selected and “transferred” away from the Navy School of Mechanics (ESMA), one of most active clandestine centers of detention, torture ...

“I couldn’t stop thinking about the bodies of the people I cared about inside that thing. The building later became the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory, which is currently nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Skyvan will fly to Argentina in its current state — it has been modified from its original version with updated electronic instruments, new engines, a weather radar, and a new automated system to open the formerly-manual cargo door. On board the plane will be original parts including a sign that used to be next to the door lever, indicating it should never be opened without authorization from the flight’s commander. It is expected to land in an Argentine airport in April, at which point the Argentine state will officially take possession of the aircraft. The airplane has been bought by the Economy Ministry, led by Sergio Massa, and will be flown from the US.

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Image courtesy of "Foreign Policy"

Argentina's Russia-Ukraine Balancing Act (Foreign Policy)

In practice, the event served as an opportunity to denounce Russian President Vladimir Putin—and, perhaps, to pressure the Argentine government ahead of the ...

And on the left, there seems to be this nostalgia for an anti-colonialism that assumes the United States is automatically in the wrong and that its adversaries are inherently virtuous.” [limited oversight](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-argentina-china-insight-idUSKCN1PP0I2) from the Argentine government. [suggesting](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/04/brazil-lula-zelenskiy-blame-war) last May that Putin and Zelensky bore equal responsibility for the war. [traveled to Moscow](https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/argentinas-fernandez-set-china-russia-tour-after-imf-accord-2022-02-01/) in the hopes of expanding ties with Russia. “They are distrustful of the intentions of the U.S. [voted](https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/world/with-argentinas-backing-united-nations-votes-to-suspend-russia-from-human-rights-council.phtml) to suspend Russia from the U.N. “They’re aligned with the United States and the social democratic governments of Western Europe but not overly so.” Casullo added that this position of relative neutrality “comes very naturally to this government. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that Brazil was one of [seven countries](https://www.infobae.com/en/2022/04/07/the-23-countries-that-supported-putin-in-the-un-vote-that-suspended-russia-from-the-human-rights-council/) in Latin America and the Caribbean to abstain from the April 2022 [U.N. Recently, on the war’s one-year anniversary, the Argentine government issued a [statement](https://www.cancilleria.gob.ar/es/actualidad/noticias/un-ano-del-inicio-de-la-guerra-en-ucrania-argentina-reitera-su-condena-la) condemning Russia’s aggression and calling dialogue “the only path.” The Argentine president later [affirmed](https://www.ft.com/content/fc8d51c8-5202-4862-a653-87d1603deded) that his country would not be sending arms to Ukraine during a separate meeting with Scholz in January this year. [topping 100 percent](https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/14/intl_business/argentina-inflation-tops-100-percent-intl-latam/index.html) and a [social crisis](https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/21/argentina-cristina-fernandez-kirchner-corruption-trial-assassination-attempt/) unseen since the economic crash of 2001 appear remote. (In Latin America, only Chilean President Gabriel Boric has condemned Putin’s invasion [from the start](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/03/14/latin-america-s-ukraine-war-stance-is-trapped-in-the-past/7da2ab8a-c257-11ed-82a7-6a87555c1878_story.html).)

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Image courtesy of "New York Post"

Where to eat, drink and sleep on your next trip to Argentina (New York Post)

Side by side of interiors and exteriors of restaurants and farms in Buenos Aires. Salud the food: Chefs prove there is more to Argentina than red meat. Courtesy ...

At Balvanera, an unsung gem in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, chef Fernando Navas is channeling the taste of Buenos Aires into his food. Argentina is known for the quality of its beef, and this is some of the best. After a few days of tasting, immerse yourself in Andean luxury at Rancho ‘e Cuero (six suites, starting at $660 per person, all-inclusive). Empanadas exploding with flavor, earthy Patagonian lamb tartare and roasted artichokes swimming in a dreamy hibiscus cream come one after the other before crispy rice, studded with seafood and a fermented citrus and chile aioli, hits the table. Lucas Elmelaj Chef Pablo del Río helms Finca El Paraíso in Buenos Aires, with a stunning backdrop in every direction. Their approach is at once celebratory, brash and delicious.

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