Thursday, December 5, 2013

All Hell Breaks Loose in Cordoba, Argentina

On December 3rd, 2013, all hell broke loose in the province of Cordoba! Vandals looted supermarkets, stores, and mom and pop shops throughout the city. While some thieves were interested in food, most of them focused on stealing alcohol and electronics. 
      
So, what caused this crime spree that made the L.A. riots look like Disneyland? The police force! Only a month after a drug scandal broke out, the cops in Cordoba province demanded an undeserved pay increase. But they went on strike as soon as the government failed to meet their demands. 
      

For over 24 hours, Cordoba had no police protection whatsoever. People of all ages, skin tone, and gender began looting. Some store owners took to firing guns to warn vandals to stay clear of their properties. It was like the freaking purge! 

  
    
The real tragedy is that some of the teens and young adults boasted about their criminal activities on their personal Facebook page. Aside from the fact that this is probably the dumbest thing you could ever do, it shows a lack of remorse for their actions. I worry about what the future holds for Argentina if these are our future governors, teachers, etc. 


I took to social media to protest the actions of the vandals. For the most part, the general consensus of the Argentine people was the same, they were all ashamed and disgusted by the actions of these thieves. Some people even took matters into their own hands to stop the vandals.  
People beat the crap out of this looter

Sure! Cry all you want! You should have thought of it before you started stealing
Some people blamed the government, while others blamed poverty, but it’s my opinion that these things are not acceptable excuses to behave like criminals. I don’t need the police, or an alleged sacred book to keep my moral compass in check. As a civilized society, everyone MUST respect each other, their property, and their city

By Wednesday afternoon, the government gave into the demands of the police and cops went back to work. Order has now been restored… for the most part, but there were over 60 injuries and at least one death in all this mayhem, not to mention that over a thousand stores were damaged.
On Thursday I walked the streets of Cordoba Capital and noticed that life had returned to normal. There didn’t seem to be any indication that anything had ever happened. 
I’m told that while protests are nothing new in Argentina, this type of chaos has not been seen in the province of Cordoba in nearly 30 years. I can only hope that this is an isolated incident or that the government responds to any future threat in a more timely and efficient manner. 

2 comments:

  1. sounds like the perfect time to get rid of those that pissed you off. Isn't there something happening now over there Government wide?

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    1. Hi Brian. Actually, there's always some kind of political turmoil here, either nationally or provincially, but it's usually caused by people, like the cops, the transportation services, and the teachers, who are constantly demanding more money and when they don't get it they go on strike. The government usually gives in to the demands and then a couple of months later, these same people will go on strike again and demand more money.

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