Argentine victims of crime fight back: In a rich suburb, guns, dogs, abound

Boston Globe ^ | May 19, 2002 | Leslie Moore

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HURLINGHAM, Argentina - The predatory sweeps start when the hooded thieves arrive.

Gang members ride bicycles through back roads and main streets, casing homes and trolling for victims. Their targets vary: a house, a car, a local resident being kidnapped.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

From January to mid-May, 21 police officers in this province have been slain on the job, compared with 31 in all of 2001. And quick kidnapping jobs go down in even the poorest neighborhoods. But an emerging vigilante spirit is taking an edge out of the terror. In middle-class and blue-collar corners the old and young have become their own armed force: They carry guns, tune into police scanners, dispatch messengers to tip off neighbors of suspicious activity, and hound police to crack down.

Interesting the Boston Globe has to pull the class card in the title of this article. They don't seem to be able to resist such political spin.

[Grig]

And how long before it happens here I wonder.

Do you think they realize what a pro-gun rights article this is?

[SteveH]

Buenos Aires bang

[Cincinatus' Wife]

If they don't, I sure do.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Venezuela: "Praetorian Guard" - Chavez purging military - 106 generals axed - another 500 officers sent home***''A new coup is the topic of the day because the military see a clear danger to themselves if Chávez keeps turning them into a praetorian guard,'' said Aníbal Romero, a political analyst who teaches at the Navy War College. DISIP's new head, Lt. Col. Miguel Rodriguez Torres, served on Chávez's staff after his election in 1998. He later served as chief organizer of the Bolivarian Circles, groups of pro-Chávez civilians [Chavistas] allegedly armed and trained by the government to help defend the president's revolution.

……Chávez has long angered many officers by insisting that they support his ''revolution,'' promoting friends over more qualified candidates, creating the Bolivarian Circles and befriending Cuba and Marxist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia. 'The military is no longer a solid monolithic block. It is split into Chavistas and anti-Chavistas, revolutionaries and `institutionalists' who reject all politics,'' said retired Vice Admiral Mario Iván Carratú.***

[SteveH]

Interesting the Boston Globe has to pull the class card in the title of this article. They don't seem to be able to resist such political spin.

Actually, I think it represents their preferred world view. Self protection is not a right, with the exception of the priveleged well-to-do at the top of the social hierarchy. It's a metaphor, a glimpse of a part of daily life in post-Apocalyptic Hyannisport or Martha's Vineyard.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well, that certainly is a plausable take.

[blam]

''The codes and rules among different groups of society have broken down,''

The same has already occurred in the inner-cities of America.

[Rebelbase]

"three German shepherds (one is named after a gun manufacturer) "

mmmm...a dog named Barret...mmmmm

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That was my first thought.

[Diddle E. Squat]

HURLINGHAM, Argentina

Now there's a town name Freepers could love! Possible rename for Chappaqua?

[Free the USA]

Check the Bump List folders for articles related to and descriptions of the above topic(s) or for other topics of interest.

[Blood of Tyrants]

...the family now keep a handgun in their home upstairs from the store.

And when the NEXT time it is robbed, the store owner will wonder why his gun wasn't in a holster at his waist. A gun in another part of the house does no good.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Hmmm... Smith? Dan Wesson? Berreta? Winchester?

If this were Great Britian, the would come and confiscate the dogs as self defense is a crime there.

[Wm Bach]

a dog named Barret...mmmmm

If it was a bulldog, Taurus would have been the obvious choice. I can't imagine calling my shepard "Stoner".

[FreedomSurge]

This is an important article as the US could be argentina in a couple of decades. The Demopublicans are becoming more and more Peronista daily. It could happen here.

[Rebelbase]

"I can't imagine calling my shepard "Stoner".

LOL! Stoner!, here Stoner...Stoner, Stoner, Stoner!

[wardaddy]

Argentinians are fairly adept at handling problems like these on the sly. I would not want to be identified as a gang leader or known criminal when the populace gets "cranked up".

[Irene Adler]

I used to know a rich family in Sao Paulo, Brazil about a decade ago. They said never send money (or anything of value) to anyone in Brazil in the mail (my sister was naive enough to send some money for a gift for a family member, and it never arrived); never wear jewelry in the street, and they lived in a gated, guarded 15-room condo. They said no one with money lived in a free-standing house, anymore because of the crime. Don't know how it is there, now, but I am guessing it's no better.