Of Subtes, Strikes & The “Anything Goes” Culture in Buenos Aires

BA subway workers threw debris on the tracks to block service November 10. (Source: Clari­n)

One of the primary goals of InvestBA is to promote trade and investment opportunities in Buenos Aires, but in order to maintain credibility (and not come across as a Chamber of Commerce site), it’s important to highlight the occasional negatives as well.

For that reason, “competitiveness” is one of the site’s main categories and these posts typically highlight the challenges Argentina faces in embracing economic transformation and competing on the global stage. Yesterday’s Brazilian article offered a laundry list of things that make BA great including a first-class subway system.

Unfortunately, a Subte worker’s strike last week plunged the city into total chaos. The Miami Herald’s Andres Oppenheimer says the hidden costs of these strikes (440 so far this year) probably outweigh the millions of pesos in lost business. On a deeper level, the government’s willingness to let these strikes continue unabated is tantamount to embracing an “anything-goes” culture where chaos reigns and the political agendas of a few penalize millions of hard-working citizens.

According to Oppenhemimer, Buenos Aires Mayor Maruicio Macri criticized the federal government at last month’s Americas Conference in Miami saying such protests and street closures only move Argentina “in the direction of an anarchic society, where there will be fewer investments and more poverty.” He added: “You often have just 10 people blocking traffic, and the police are protecting those 10 people instead of the hundreds of thousands who need to go to work. That’s ridiculous.” Indeed.