ARGENTINA 2005

 

The number of antisemitic incidents more than doubled in 2005, to 375, compared to 160−185 in previous years. However, most were manifestations of graffiti, especially swastikas, painted on walls on or near Jewish facilities, including cemeteries.

 

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The Jewish population of Argentina, numbering about 180,000 out of a total population of 37 million, has been declining since the 1960s. Some 80 percent live in the city of Buenos Aires and the Greater Buenos Aires area. Cities with a large Jewish presence include Rosario, Córdoba, San Miguel de Tucumán, Mendoza, Bahía Blanca, La Plata and Santa Fe.

The Jewish community maintains many educational, cultural and religious institutions, including a Hebrew and a Yiddish press, publishing houses and an educational system from kindergarten through university. The leading Jewish organization is the DAIA (Delegación de Asociaciones Israelitas Argentinas), which represents communities and organizations to the authorities and is responsible for safeguarding the rights of members. AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) is the main community organization. The Vaad ha-Kehilot is the umbrella organization of all the communities in the provinces.

 

EXTREMIST ORGANIZATIONS

Political Parties

Of Argentina’s two main extreme right-wing organizations, Partido Nuevo Triunfo (PNT) and Partido Nuevo Orden Social Patriotico (PNOSP), only the former was active in 2005. Alejandro Biondini (pseudonym ‘Kalki’ – see ASW 2001/2) continues to lead the PNT, which runs the website Ciudad Libertad de Opinion and celebrates Hitler’s birthday. Since the Federal Supreme Court denied the party legal status due to its identification with Nazism, it cannot field candidates in elections. PNT is associated with another small far right party, Accion Ciudadana (100−150 members), which obtained only 3,802 votes, or 0.2 percent, in the elections to Buenos Aires City Assembly held on 23 October 2005.

 

The Use of Nazi Symbols

Swastikas frequently appear on walls in the cities and towns, including on Jewish facilities (see below). The display of symbols linked to the Nazi era is common in the soccer stadium. For example, the swastika appears frequently in the Talleres Cordoba stadium and some youths displayed two Nazi flags there when their team played their main rival Belgrano de Cordoba in 2005.

T-shirts with swastikas decorated with swastikas were sold in the city of Cordoba on 18 March. Nazi symbols were also displayed at a union demonstration in the Province of Chaco on 4 May.

 

ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITIES

According to the annual report of the DAIA, the number of antisemitic incidents more than doubled in 2005 – 375 compared to 160−185 in previous years. However, most were manifestations of graffiti, especially swastikas, painted on walls on or near Jewish facilities, including cemeteries. There were also phone threats and insults to Jewish individuals and institutions. The graffiti was usually the work of urban groups that identify with neo-Nazi groups.

            The geographic distribution of antisemitic events in Argentina in 2005 is as follows: Buenos Aires City (273 incidents), 72 percent; Greater Buenos Aires: (44), 11.70 percent; Buenos Aires Province (11), 2.92 percent; other provinces (36), 9.60 percent; and area not specified (12), 3.20 percent.

            According to the NGO INADI (National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism), 7 percent of reports it received in 2005 related to antisemitism.

 

Vandalism, Harassment and Insults

Antisemitic slogans and swastikas were found sprayed throughout the La Tablada cemetery on 24 July. Plaques, flower pots and fixtures at the Carmel Jewish cemetery in the town of Ingeniero Sajaroff (Villaguay) were vandalized on 17 January. The Sephardic cemetery at the city of Mendoza was also defaced with swastikas.

The Jewish Center of Ramos Mejia was spray painted and flyers were handed out denying the Holocaust and branding it a ‘holostory’. Two culprits, Leonel de la Torre and Jose Remigio Galva, were caught. Their political views were not revealed.

Graffiti, including swastikas and the slogan “Jews out,” appeared on walls at central locations and near synagogues in the city of General Roca, in the southern province of Rio Negro, on 9 May 2005. Minister of the Interior Alberto Fernandez promised to bring the perpetrators to trial. The inscription, “Jews, the eternal cancer. God, deliver us from them” also appeared in the neighborhood of Palermo, in Buenos Aires.

The text “A Jew lives here. She is not welcome in this neighborhood” appeared at the front of the house of a Jewish plastic artist in Belgrano, Buenos Aires.

            The 15-year-old son of an Orthodox rabbi was verbally abused with antisemitic insults when he emerged from a subway station. A non-Jew was similarly abused. Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas found the culprits guilty of aggravated threats under the anti-discrimination law. He ordered them to visit the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum, together with their parents.

 

Propaganda

The leading antisemitic publication continues to be the conspiracy-minded, fundamentalist Catholic, albeit low-circulation, Patria Argentina. Cabildo, a traditionalist, virulently anti-leftist publication which contains elements of religious antisemitism and Holocaust denial (see ASW 2004). However, most antisemitic references appear on the websites of Argentinean neo-Nazis, who disseminate classic Nazi literature and incite violence. Explaining the significance of 30 January 1933, one piece claims that Adolf Hitler’s rise to power as German chancellor symbolizes that the enemies of all good things on earth are not invincible and that this fact should motivate their fight.

 

RESPONSES TO EXTREMISM AND ANTISEMITISM

There has been no progress in the judicial investigations into the bombings of the Israeli embassy (1992) and the AMIA community center (1994) in Buenos Aires. This state of affairs leaves the Jewish community frustrated and raised doubts about the ability of the legal system to bring about justice.

The National Senate instituted 20 April, the day after the Warsaw ghetto uprising, as Holocaust Memorial Day,

The media continued to discuss the repercussions of the case of Buenos Aires city legislator Mirta Gloria Onega, who insulted a Jewish advisor, Norberto Cohenca, fired him and replaced him with her husband Carlos Barcia (see ASW 2004) (Infobae, 6 Jan. 2005; Pagina 12 Jan. 2005), especially in light of the fact that the US government issued a memorandum expressing its concern over antisemitism in Argentina.

A prolonged conflict between the government and the Church began after the military chaplain General Bishop Antonio Baseotto sent a letter to Minister of Health Gines Gonzalez Garcia stating that those who “offend the little ones should have a millstone placed around their neck and be cast into the sea,” referring to the latter’s support of birth control. This quote recalls the practice of the military regime (1976−83) of disposing of alleged leftist opponents. President Néstor Kirchner asked the Vatican to remove him from his position; however it refused. The president was supported by the DAIA due to Baseotto’s record of antisemitic comments. A report put out by INADI found Baseotto guilty of violating the anti-discrimination law for a statement he made in October 2004 against Muslim immigration.