Buenos Aires Study Abroad Jennafer Schoonover

This trip was honestly such an amazing experience and there were so many aspects to the trip that I was not expecting to like learning so much about the history of the City and the country. It was amazing to be able to have Nicolas take us through the city and show us buildings and areas of the city and explain the political events or people they were associated with. I loved going to Plaza de Mayo and learning about the grandmothers or Abuelas who march every week. We learned about how they are the ones who are protesting and looking for the lost grandchildren that were taken and given away from those women who were pregnant and kidnapped and "Disappeared" during the dirty war. We learned the difference between the Abuelas and the Madres who looked for the remains or bodies of their children who were taken and disappeared during that time. There are so many buildings we saw and statues and everything that were so interesting that I felt impelled to tell others about all the ...

1. If there were thousands of people disappearing in such a short period of time, how was it that no one found a way to resist the government or stop it? It seems as if there were people being taken off the streets day in and day out, there would have been people or some sort of power that could have helped to stop it? https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003971186/where-is-my-grandchild.html 2. What is the hardest part about identifying or finding these missing grandchildren? How do they get found in the first place, if they are unaware that they were even kidnapped in the first place? DId people just start checking their dna with the bank that was held from all those who were missing their grandchildren? https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000003971186/where-is-my-grandchild.html 3. For the amount of people that the government was disappearing, I am wondering if they actually got information that they were looking for. Their whole idea was that left-wing activists were terr...

1. After reports of the hundreds of cases of ill-treatment and torture to inmates in prison by police and correctional officers, how are officers being held accountable and what measures can feasibly be taken to ensure that inmates are treated fairly, and the internal corruption isn't keeping officers from being help accountable for their actions or crimes against inmates, and the conditions in which they live? https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/argentina#49dda6 2. Women have been fighting for their rights for years now, and one aspect of human rights in Argentina that seems to be a huge problem still is femicide and violence against women. What are the main crimes against women and how might they differ from those predominately against men? https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/programs/rights-action-access-justice-women-argentina 3. There are lots of different crimes related to human rights in Argentina but are some of them more common than others? ...

1. With the amount of cameras that are currently throughout Buenos Aires, 7300, how far back are the records kept for on the security footage, and how much storage would something like this take? https://www.buenosaires.gob.ar/justiciayseguridad/centro-de-monitoreo-urbano 2. With how many people it takes to monitor systems as large as the ones in Buenos Aires, New Orleans, and other major cities, how far out are we from systems of algorithms that screen the cameras and the footage they hold for red flags or incidences that humans would look for? With the immense amounts of information, you would think that humans would have a much higher margin of error than technology would soon have. https://www.eff.org/pages/surveillance-cameras 3. With all the new monitoring systems in place and the way the police have been using them now, what is keeping this new and growing technology from getting into the hands of the wrong people? I feel as if the new monitoring systems can tell you who...

During our lecture with Mariano about Argentina and LGBT rights I learned a lot about same-sex marriage and the lengths that were gone through to get those rights in Argentina. Mariano talked about how Argentina was the first Latin American Country to legalize same-sex marriage. The law was passed in July of 2010, and it was passed mostly by the socialist parties in the House of Deputies. One common misconception we talked about in class was how everyone in the US and other places always talks about Pope Francis being so progressive and accepting of LGBT and other causes, when in reality that's not really how he is. Compared to other leaders of the Catholic Church he may be better but that he was actually against the bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Cristina Kirschner was one of the main people who were fighting for the bill, and she went under a lot of fire to support it. Mariano also talked about how there would be huge protests against the passing of the bill. In order to com...

Questions created by Christina G. Jen S. and Madi C. Even though the government of the province of Buenos Aires mandated that 1% of public employees must be trans people according to World Politics Review, is this currently taking place, and what barriers are these individuals still facing with marginalization and discrimination in the public work sector? https://www. worldpoliticsreview.com/ insights/22682/what-drove-the- promotion-of-lgbt-rights-in- argentina According to the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans in Argentina, the responsibility of security for the LGBT community to ensure a safe and reliable way for members of this community to report hate crimes and offenses against them or their families, is the responsibility of each province and the city of Buenos Aires. Do members feel confident, safe and comfortable reporting these crimes and occurrences, or do they feel that they will indirectly victimize themselves further? https://www.undp.org/content/...

Questions created by Christina G., Jen S., and Madi C. Even though the government of the province of Buenos Aires mandated that 1% of public employees must be trans people according to World Politics Review, is this currently taking place, and what barriers are these individuals still facing with marginalization and discrimination in the public work sector? https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/insights/22682/what-drove-the-promotion-of-lgbt-rights-in-argentina According to the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans in Argentina, the responsibility of security for the LGBT community to ensure a safe and reliable way for members of this community to report hate crimes and offenses against them or their families, is the responsibility of each province and the city of Buenos Aires. Do members feel confident, safe and comfortable reporting these crimes and occurrences, or do they feel that they will indirectly victimize themselves further? https://www.und...

1. Even though there are provincial regulations and laws forbidding the hiring of certain individuals for private military and security companies (PMSC's), Argentina is a federation of provinces, where the regulation of private security services is a competency of the provinces. Do tho this, why do they not have national regulations to address and regulate these issues like Brazil does? https://issat.dcaf.ch/Learn/Resource-Library2/Country-Profiles/Argentina-Country-Profile 2. What accountability measures are in place to review PMSC's staff to guarantee that they are not hiring previously convicted military officials, police officers, and violators of human rights per law 1913 passed in 2009? http://www.ipsnews.net/2009/10/argentina-dubious-past-no-problem-for-private-security-firms/ 3. What measures have been put into place, to lessen the inequality and discrimination gaps between the wealthy and the poor, created by the use and hiring of private secu...

Worked with Maria Flores. 1. Why don't police and security do more about the violence culture, and instead become complicit to the illegal activities? (Football Violence: South America's Interminable Problem. Retrieved 7 January 2020 from  https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/sports/football-violence-south-americas-interminable-problem.phtml ) 2. What is one way to make the stadium more family friendly, amidst the violence and underground drug market, etc. that is present? (In Argentina, Violence is Part of the Soccer Culture. Retrieved 7 January 2020 from  https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/sports/soccer/in-argentina-violence-is-part-of-the-soccer-culture.html ) 3. What's the hardest part about the security at the football stadium? (Why is watching Soccer so dangerous in Argentina? Retrieved 7 January 2020 from  https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/02/inenglish/1493718727_034529.html )

The picture I took from the Palace of the Argentine Congress depicts the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, which is the lower house of congress. There are 257 deputies in office who hold a 4 year term. Every 2 years, however, half of the seats are up for reelection, so the seats in the House of Deputies are constantly shifting. Much like in the United states, the House of deputies has the right to impeach after the majority of 2/3 of its members being present. When we saw the room, it reminded me much of how the US also has the house of representatives set up. Something I thought was interesting is how each seat has a weight sensor on it, so that it can quickly be decided if there are enough members present to start a vote. out of the 257 members, there must be 129 present to initiate a vote. Once quorum is reached the session may begin. There are 3 galleries for viewing; the first gallery is for deputy guests and the president, while the last two are for the general public. There are als...

This is a picture of the Matanza River in La Boca. The river has been deemed the third dirtiest river in the world and from the pictures I took and seeing in real life, I am not surprised by this statistic. It is estimated that over 15000 industries are dumping into this river, which runs through 14 different municipalities of Buenos Aires, and chemical manufacturers are responsible for over a third of the pollution in the river. A study published in the Latin American Journal of Sedimentology and Basin Analysis in 2008 revealed that the soils in the banks of the river contained levels of zinc, lead, copper, nickel, and chromium that are above recommended levels. It is actually believed that 60% of the approximately 20,000 people who reside near the river basin live in territory deemed unsuitable for human conditions. Although the area of the river we saw was awful and filled with trash, the surrounding area seemed lively and as if the people were used to it and lived as if it was thei...