PATAGONIA’S GAUCHOS

The so-called “social organisations” in Argentina are a bunch of left-wing activists who have earned a bad reputation for blocking roads, trampling all over public parks and causing chaos in downtown Buenos Aires whenever they take to the streets to demonstrate. Their actions have brought them into utter disrepute because of their selfseeking leaders who do not believe in private property.

All of a sudden, as if bitten by the nationalism bug, they travelled all the way from Buenos Aires to Patagonia, to demonstrate against landowners in Lago Escondido, saying that the paths leading to the lake are not public. What the protesters didn’t know is that the local rural population have an implicit agreement that the trails can be used by well-meaning and hard-working farmers but the social organisations demanded that the paths be confiscated and nationalised.

The outraged farmers thought that enough was enough when they realised that the activitivists’ rude behaviour was hampering productivity and decided to give the intruders a dose of their own medicine: they formed a human barrier of beefy gauchos on horseback who, upon seeing the protesters refusing to retreat, started to charge while cracking their whips high up in the air yelling at them to leave. Some gauchos had shovels that they raised high and brandished like a weapon. The shovel is a symbol of hard work and these troublemakers are regarded by most Argentines as good-for-nothing slobs.

The clash is likely to have a ripple effect. The gauchos’ courageous action shows that these hooligans are likely to find their match, not only in power but also in intellect, if they continue trespassing on public property.

Adrian Insaubralde, Santa Fe