Basic HTML Version
PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 7, 1982
PAGE 7
to support Argentina with all necessary means. Cuba is ready
together with the Latin American peoples to fulfill this duty."
A further insight into the complex Argentine national character was offered
in the May 10, 1982 issue of NEWSWEEK:
The invasion has stirred a national euphoria that hasn't been
seen since Argentina won the World Cup in soccer in 1978. As the
hour for battle drew near, many Argentines welcomed the struggle
with the British as a blood rite.
"The military, political,
historic, almost metaphysical�t of recovery of the stolen
islands is the basis for all our future possibilities," says
CABILDO, a far-right journal.
" [ It is] a new dawn for all
Argentines."
To much of the world, such talk smacks of quixotic machismo. But
the bluster has roots deep in Argentine history and culture.
Argentines grow up studying textbooks that identify the Falklands
and large stretches of Antarctica as part of "Argentina Grande."
They insist that these and other lands have been "stolen"
!?.Y
North American capitalists and the imperialist British. As a
result, says a veteran Buenos Aires diplomat, they tend to "view
history as a succession of conspiracies whose objective is to
keep Argentina from attaining the greatness which belongs to it
by divine grace."
Argentina, it should be noted, is one of the most devoutly Roman Catholic
nations, with a rigid adherence to Roman Catholic moral standards. When
President Galtieri announced to the jubilant masses on April 2 that the
Malvinas had been "recovered," he praised his countrymen for being "very
religious and very Catholic." To continue with the NEWSWEEK report:
To some extent, the Argentines' sense of failed national destiny
is justified.
Argentina is blessed with a vast expanse of
fertile land. The country produces thriving exports of grain and
beef and it has largely untapped oil, natural-gas and mineral
reserves. Even so, millions of European immigrants in
the
last
century have failed to develop the country's full potential••••
The downhill slide is the subject of bitter jokes. In one, Saint
Peter asks the Lord at the Creation why he has so unequally
blessed Argentina with so many natural treasures. The reply:
"Wait, I am now going to populate it with Argentines••••"
The streak of racism in the national character is reflected in
the Argentines' attitude toward their Latin American neighbors.
Invariably they boast that their worldly culture.••makes them
"European" and superior to other Latin Americans.
(Colombian
novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez is said to have defined ego as
"the little Argentine in all of us.") •.•
The fervent emulation of Europe has led many observers to speak
of an Argentine "identity erisis."
One popular saying archly
defines the Argentines as "a bunch of Italians who speak Spanish,
wish they were British and act like they were French•••."