Argentinean comings and goings

The three main presidential candidates all call on the legacy of Juan Peron, still an unavoidable focal point for both left and right 70 years on. Argentina: a country with 40 million inhabitants, 70% of whom have an Italian last name; ten times the size of Italy with a wealth of raw materials, a massive grain industry that has made it historically the ‘breadbasket of the world’, and over 50 million cattle; a culturally evolved country with Nobel laureates, a high literacy rate, an important annual international book fair and numerous respected newspapers of every leaning; and a lauded international sports presence that is stoked by a great passion among the people.

And Argentina is never out of the international headlines for long. Sometimes for tragic and atrocious events like the desaparecidos but also for eminent personalities across diverse fields, from Eva Perón (“Don’t cry for me, Argentina”) to Che Guevara, Fangio to Maradona and Messi, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands to César Pelli. Symbolically, the country’s international image is now crowned by Pope Francis, who is at the centre of universal attention, and who, after his affectionate “buona sera” immediately following his election, has been shaking up the globe with an approach and style that reveal a great humanity and the temperament of a pontiff determined to leave an indelible mark on the evolution of the Catholic Church and the entire world as we witness day after day.