Macri leaves ESMA concentration camp site w/o maintenance or grounds staff; fires 2,000 caretakers.

[forest444]

2. Not even the staunchest Kirchnersts thought Macri would go as far as to close the ESMA Memorial site

Although I'm personally not too surprised, given his own admiration for the dictatorship and the fact that the 37-acre site (worth at least US$200 million today) has been coveted by developers - including Macri's father - since Menem first floated the idea of selling the lot in the late 1990s. I smell money behind the decision to leave the site without maintenance (don't be shocked if an "accidental" fire breaks out there at some future date).

Remind me: when did you live in Buenos Aires, Enid? I never had the chance to myself since my parents left shortly before I was born; but naturally I've always had a fascination for my would-be homeland. My relatives are almost all still there (scattered throughout the country), and their anecdotes certainly help me get a better idea of local trends than if I followed the news alone.

Very few, btw, are Kirchnerist (or even Peronist) - but once you put politics aside, all agree on how significantly living standards and the economy in general have improved over the last 12 years; before then, as they often put it, it was "down, down, down." I'm afraid Macri might be pushing the country the same way again - and what's worse, to benefit his biggest backers (big landowners, who've always resented taxes and Argentina's development itself; and non-bank finance, who resent limits on their often illicit activities).

So, keep in touch! And thanks as always for your thoughts.