Tough Stories to Report: Anti-Semitism in Argentina

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself reporting a lot on anti-Semitism, unfortunately.

The ironic reality of this is that while Argentina is home to one of the world’s largest Jewish populations (some 250,000), it also served as a haven for Nazi war criminals, and was the site of two deadly anti-Semitic terrorist attacks in the 1990s. 114 people were killed in the 1992 and 1994 bombings. Both attacks remain unsolved.

In news related to the 1994 AMIA Jewish Center bombing, I wrote a story yesterday for CNN.com about Claudio Lifschitz, a former investigating lawyer into the AMIA attack, who says he was kidnapped and tortured last Friday by three masked men claiming to be agents of Argentina’s national intelligence agency.

As you can see from the photos above, which Lifschitz himself sent to me, his arm was burned with a blowtorch, and the word ‘AMIA’ was carved into his back with a knife. Scary stuff.

When I spoke to Lifschitz, he seemed calm, and almost resigned to the fact that these sort of things will happen to those who speak out against alleged government corruption in Argentina. This is a sad state of affairs.

You can read my full report on the incident here at CNN.com.




In February, I filed a series of on-air and on-line reports for CNN about Bishop Richard Williamson (above), the ultra-conservative priest who made comments denying the extent of the Holocaust in an interview with Swedish television. The interview was broadcast just two days after the Vatican decided to lift his excommunication, creating a major controversy for Pope Benedict XVI. When it was revealed that Williamson lived here in Argentina, media outlets from around the world scrambled to get an interview with him, including CNN. Nobody was successful (save Germany’s Spiegel, who did an email/fax interview with him), but we were able to speak to some residents of La Reja, Argentina, where the St. Pius X seminary that Williamson has led since 2003 is located. You can watch that report here.

Williamson was soon removed from his post at the seminary, and shortly thereafter, Argentina’s Interior Ministry told him he had ten days to leave the country, or face expulsion. Argentine authorities clearly did not welcome the added attention the country was receiving as a result of Williamson living here.

A few days later, Williamson was at the Buenos Aires Int’l Airport (EZE) where he was approached by a local television journalist with the cameras rolling. What transpired was truly amazing. The images captured by Argentina’s Canal 13/TN were sent out by Associated Press Television, and aired around the world, including on CNN International, where I did a “look-live" report from the Buenos Aires bureau. My report is not available online, but you can watch the video here of Williamson confronting the local reporter in all his dark-glasses-and-clenched-fist-to-the-face-and-elbow-to-the-groin-glory. Not very becoming of a man of the cloth, huh?

I would have loved to have been able to stakeout the airport and wait for Williamson to show up, but unfortunately, I don’t have the financial resources to fund that kind of operation. Thankfully, the local press was there. When Williamson arrived the next morning in London, he was met by an enormous crowd of media, as well as supporters and detractors. He is back in his home country now, and is likely to keep a low profile, but I don’t think we’ve heard the last of this case. Some countries may try to extradite and press criminal charges against him for denying the Holocaust. Stay tuned.

I discussed the Bishop Williamson case as a guest on “Beyond the Pale” a weekly radio show that airs on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York. You can listen to the interview I did with host Esther Kaplan here.

Photos courtesy of Claudio Lifschitz and AFP/Getty Images.

Trendwatch: I-Bankers Invade Buenos Aires

This week’s sign that the apocalypse is upon us……

According to a “Trendwatch” report posted today on Gawker, Buenos Aires is now attracting a whole new slew of Ex-Pats: laid-off investment bankers. Fantastic!

I’m not questioning the veracity of this “trend” (in fact, I know one such person: a high school classmate of mine arrived here a few months ago after losing his I-Banking job in NYC), but the fact that vapid online Manhattan media outlets are devoting virtual ink to this has me bracing for the inevitable occurrence in the very near future when I overhear a wannabe Master-of-the-Universe in a button-down in Palermo marveling at “how fucking cheap it is here, man. This would cost like $200 bucks in the city.”

There’s been real ink shed on this topic recently as well: A New York Observer piece is what originally piqued Gawker’s interest, and The Washington Post also filed a similar, yet pointedly more academic, dissection of the trend in an A1 story last Friday.

But unfortunately, Gawker’s post will likely get the most eyeballs, and generate the most comments, because, hey, that’s the way things work in our quasi-journalistic online world these days.

Of course, I am guilty of writing a similar “foreigners are flocking to Buenos Aires” story, as are several of my BsAs-based colleagues, and that’s fine. We identified what we considered to be a legitimate trend, and we reported it. (My Newsweek piece on this topic was plagiarized by the New York Times last year, although they refused to acknowledge it despite overwhelming evidence.)

But to get this info from Gawker, and to know that it will be taken as gospel by many readers, is disheartening. To boot: Gawker's post today makes cheeky references to two well-known Buenos Aires landmarks, and gets them both wrong: the Teatro Colon has been closed for renovation for some two years, so it’s not likely that any visitor (I-Banker or not) has strolled through there recently, and last time I checked “Pablo Neruda’s old house” was in Chile, not Argentina. (I know, I know, it’s hard to keep track of these Latino literary legends. Neruda, Borges, Marquez....what’s the difference, right?)

**UPDATE** - My friend, the always reliably snarky Fernando Cwilich Gil, has also taken issue with this disturbing trend, and says so in a post today on BlackBook.

Fernando's been writing some really insightful and salty Buenos Aires-related posts these past weeks on BlackBook, be sure to check them out.

"United States of Argentina"

An article appears in this week's edition of The American Conservative (a publication that I, admittedly, have never read) entitled "United States of Argentina."

The author, Philip Jenkins, draws some intriguing parallels between Argentina's perpetual economic misfortunes, and the current financial woes facing the United States. Essentially he makes the argument that the U.S. looks to be following remedies repeatedly employed by Argentina -- and that the country should avoid doing so at all costs.

I don't agree with all of Jenkins' comparisons, but the article is certainly worth a read, both for those with an interest in the utter complexity and absurdity of Argentine politics, and those trying to get their heads around how the world got into this mess, and ideas on how we might get out of it.

Campo in Crisis

I reported two stories for CNN this week about Argentina's drought, the worst in half-a-century.



I witnessed the devastation first-hand on a visit to San Miguel del Monte, where I took these photos.

My first report aired on Tuesday, and examined the emergency decree declared by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to help farmers cope with the drought.

To get reaction from farm leaders, CNN en Espanol correspondent Javier Doberti, cameraman Eduardo Aragona and I staked out a meeting in downtown Buenos Aires on a sweltering afternoon. The farmers and the government are constantly at odds, so the back-and-forth between the two entities is always front-page news here, therefore any and all appearances by farming leaders is always covered "en vivo y en directo" (LIVE) by the five, yes that's right five, 24-hour news station based in Buenos Aires.

When Eduardo Buzzi of the Argentine Agrarian Federation arrived he took a few questions. I had to contend with an over-zealous cameraman, who kept pushing me to try and get a better shot. I know better than to be pushed around by shooters, so I stood my ground, kept the microphone steady, and we got the sound and pictures that we needed. Fortunately, Javier was able to grab Buzzi for a one-on-one interview immediately after (much to the consternation of the local press, but that's the benefits of working for CNN). The exclusive quotes from Buzzi are what we both used in our reports that day.

After gathering archive footage of the drought, as well as soundbites from Kirchner's announcement, I began writing my script, and once approved, I took a quick taxi ride with Javier and Eduardo to the Casa Rosada to shoot my "stand-up" which is what I used to "close" my report.


To get a better understanding of how the drought is affecting Argentine farmers, we traveled the next day to San Miguel del Monte, 65 miles southwest of Buenos Aires, where we met with local farmers Juan Cahen D'Anvers and Cesar Gioia, as well as the Argentine Rural Society representative, Lorena del Rio. Here's that report.

As you can see from the photos, it is ugly. Dead cows. Scorched crops. Bone-dry canals and rivers. Farmers are losing lots of money, and world supplies of commodities like soy, wheat, corn and beef could be threatened, as Argentina is one of the world's top exporters of these products.

Here's a report I wrote for CNN.com about the situation.

I hope for the farmers sake, and consumers around the world, that some rain is on the way.

No Way RDJ

Robert Downey Jr. is pissed.

Sure, the whole film industry is congratulating him on his Best Supporting Oscar nomination for “Tropic Thunder.” And yes, the Academy should be praised for recognizing such an unorthodox performance (and it truly is a transcendent display of acting. So. Damn. Funny.) in a comedy, (one that skewers Hollywood, no less) but you just know that Downey is livid in London right now, freezing his ass off on set with the insufferable Jude Law, certain of the fact that he has no chance (NO CHANCE!) of winning the Oscar because he’s nominated in the same category as a dead man.

Heath Ledger will undoubtedly (and most say, deservingly) win for his role as The Joker in “The Dark Knight.” He’s already won a posthumous Golden Globe and SAG Award, and the Oscar is a sure thing.

So, however appropriate Ledger’s Oscar win will be, it will only serve to spite Downey Jr. and strengthen his long-standing hatred of the Academy.

You see, Downey Jr. lost his only other Oscar nomination in what was essentially a similar sympathy vote. In 1993, he turned in the performance of a lifetime as Charlie Chaplin in “Chaplin” but unfortunately for him, it was the same year that Al Pacino received two nominations -- in the Supporting and Lead Actor categories for “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “Scent of a Woman,” respectively. Pacino won the gold statue for the latter after having been overlooked on six previous occasions. So basically he won because voters could sense that his finest days onscreen were numbered, and roles like Lt. Col. Frank Slade would likely be few and far between. (And they were right; aside from memorable turns a few years later in “The Insider” and “Any Given Sunday,” all of his movies this decade have bombed. Did you see “Two for the Money” or “88 Minutes”? Neither did I.)

Downey Jr. has never really been able to let that loss go. I’ve read several interviews with him, including an incendiary one in the December 1997 issue of Playboy (which I can’t find online…anyone?) in which he slams the Academy for falling for that sentimental 'Pacino deserves to win this time no matter what' crap. The same is sure to happen for Ledger on Feb. 22, so Downey Jr. should just be prepared. Although perhaps now that he is clean, sober and a superhero, he’ll let it go. But I hope not. Sympathy should have no place in awards voting, even if it is the Oscars.

I, for one, am just waiting anxiously for “The Kirk Lazarus Chronicles” to hit the big screen. That needs to happen.

South America's Napa

Mendoza, Argentina is the darling of the wine world right now, thanks to its sublime wines, beauty, affordability and perhaps because of articles such as the ones I wrote this week in Newsweek International that sing its praise.

The first article is a first-person account of my experiences in Mendoza, and my favorite places to visit there. The second talks about the very real possibility of owning your own vineyard, and the third about non-wine activities on tap in Mendoza.

No, I did not title the article "South America's Napa," a Newsweek editor in New York did, but I think it rings true.

Have you been to Mendoza? What are your favorite places there? Drop me a line and let me know.

Photo of Bodega Salentein in Valle de Uco by B.B.

Done with Dakar

The Dakar Rally wrapped up here in Buenos Aires this past weekend. The balls-to-the-wall endurance race sent hundreds of cowboys roaring across the rugged landscapes of Argentina and Chile for two weeks. There was lots of dust, dirt, blood and a few deaths, but that’s par-for-the-course for the Dakar Rally, which took place here in South America for the first time after organizers deemed Africa too dangerous because of security threats.

The race dominated news here. Argentines and Chileans enthusiastically embraced the competition, and thousands lined up along the race route to cheer.

All the attention got me thinking about an idea that always pops into my mind every time I see images of racing cars: What’s the point? Or, more importantly, isn’t there something better we could be doing with our precious oil?

Don’t get me wrong, I admire the spirit of competition, and I am intrigued by the reality of pitting man, machine and nature against one another in extreme environments, but the whole idea of motor sports just seems like a big waste of the natural resources that are in increasingly short supply these days.

(Almost) the whole world seems to agree that we need to conserve our commodities and slow global warming….well, how about we stop encouraging races like the Dakar and tell these dolts behind the wheel to get another gig?

I’m not saying it doesn’t require talent, hard work, dedication, blah, blah, blah….but when I see 120,000 sunburned shoobs packed into bleachers in Talladega, or on the swanky streets of Monte Carlo, or in the deserts of Chile, I am truly perplexed. And, more to the point, I wonder why no one ever talks about how much oil is wasted to sustain these “sports.”

Sure, the argument could be made that every time the L.A. Lakers fly to Boston to play the Celtics they make a huge carbon footprint, or that countless quantities of energy and fuel are consumed to gather athletes together every four years for the Olympics and the World Cup, but once they get to Beijing or Berlin, the gas guzzling tends to cease, right?

So tell the Finnish rally car drivers, and the South African motorcycle studs, and the German Formula One champs, and the North Carolinian NASCAR knuckleheads that they are on notice, and that their sporting days may be numbered.

Photo courtesy of AFP.