The situation in Argentina reached the point of no return in December of 2001.
The International Monetary Fund, in spite of no signs of the Argentine government's willingness to pay them back, had been lending money to Argentina and postponing its payment schedules, to keep a fictional "convertibility" at a one-to-one rate of our Peso currency with the US Dollar.
It was obvious that the Argentine authorities had no intention of ever paying back the billions that were owed, but for some reason the IMF kept lending. I suppose they are very naive and trusting people ...
[...]
The country had been systematically ravaged by both foreign and local institutions. Argentina is a food producing country, but children were starving to death every day, because their parents couldn't afford the price of food, since the unemployment rate had exceeded 25%, and inflation was making our currency less valuable by the hour.
[...]
Our world was suddenly transformed. The rest of humanity still lived by B.C. and A.C years. Argentines measure history by before and after "one-to-one," or before and after "the crisis."
"Nice car, nice jacket, are they new?"
"Are you kidding? I couldn't afford these today. No way; I bought them before one-to-one."
For example, here is a lunch break chat I once had with people from work:
"Paris is very nice, but I liked London better."
"Dude, you've just been to Europe?"
"No way man, I went before the crisis."
"Oh."
It turns out that everyone at the table had traveled around a lot. But we all did it before the crisis. Only the elites can afford international travel these days.
This was just the beginning. I don't think anyone expected things to turn out the way they did, or how the economic crisis transformed everyone's lives. The crime, inflation, corruption, generalized degradation of our cultural standards and way of life. The crumbling of infrastructure and how public education became something we're ashamed of, when it was once the best in Latin America.
[...]
What we experienced here in Argentina, even thought some choose to deny it, was the socio-economic collapse of a pretty much average Western society that was (apparently) doing well, economically speaking. That is, until the rot behind the facade revealed itself.
The rot I'm referring to was debt and corruption, helped by international groups with their own agendas.
[...]
Also keep in mind, Argentina isn't what most people around the world picture as a primitive Latin American republic.
Buenos Aires is still sophisticated and has its own charisma. It's a large metropolis with subways, trains, lots of architecture and social life. It's a relatively rich country in both natural resources and culture. Argentina was the first country in the region to have nuclear power plants, something that many bordering countries still don't have.
