MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Far less Argentines than expected crossed to Chile for the Pope's visit
Argentine born pope Francis three-day visit to neighboring Chile attracted less of his countrypeople than was expected according to the preparations and border controls. The Argentine Gendarmerie at the Christ Redempteur pass, reported that on Sunday, 4.283 people in 1.995 vehicles crossed to Chile plus another 2.966 faithfull in 77 coaches. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesThe Pope also felt “used” by some of his countrymen, who have visited him on numerous occasions in the Vatican since he was elected Pope in March 2013. Among them were numerous politicians, including the current President, Mauricio Macri, and its predecessor, Cristina Kirchner. (Cadena 3 22.1.17) .
Jan 16th, 2018 - 10:28 am - Link - Report abuse -1Perhaps they wanted him to voice his support for their Falklands claim? A Papal intervention maybe?
But would a map of the world look today if all of the territory lost and gained over the past 180 years reverted to its 19th century status? Quite a ridiculous proposal.
Falklands – Acquisitive Prescription(1 pg): https://www.academia.edu/35552595/Falklands_-Acquisitive_Prescription
“Brit Bob” - The reason the Pope is unpopular here in Argentina has to do with the fact that he is politically-biased in support of the left-wing and had tried to interfere in local politics.
Jan 18th, 2018 - 02:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0He is a Peronist, and when he was chosen Pope, he granted a dozen of interviews to Cristina Kirchner and her ministers - The longest lasting two hours. He has told Argentines to “take care of Cristina”, then already a notoriously corrupt President and controversial for her ties to the Venezuelan regime and the murder of Alberto Nisman.
When the new, centre-right Macri government was democratically-elected in 2015, Pope Francis distanced himself from the country, even as the new government rebuilt the ties with the rest of the world that the Kirchnerites had destroyed. Pope Francis has refused to visit his home country, even as he toured almost all the rest of Latin America, including a dictatorship like Cuba. He has granted Macri a meagre twenty-minute interview.
When Milagro Sala, leader of a criminal organization that was hoarding assault weapons, threatening journalists, and embelezzed public funds given to her by the Kirchnerites in Jujuy province, was finally jailed on corruption and illegal arms ownership charges, the Pope's curious decision was to send her a blessed crucifix.
The Pope has refusen to speak on the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela - Where 2 million refugees have fled the country in the last 2 years (Many of them ended up here), 85% cannot afford to eat, babies are dying from malnutrition on hospitals without electricity, the Congress has been annuled, and +150 have been killed by the Maduro regime in the past year. These figures are unprecedented in even the worst-off Latin American countries, and have taken onto the scale of an African failed state.
These are the things that keep Argentines at night, not the Falklands, which as you may know is a non-issue here, even though the previous govt tried to revive it with little success.
“The Pope has refusen to speak on the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela”
Jan 18th, 2018 - 07:05 pm - Link - Report abuse +1http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/08/04/0509/01129.html
Mere platitudes, DemonTree, an empty communique calling for “peace, dialogue and the respect for human rights” written by some Vatican diplomat.
Jan 18th, 2018 - 09:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You know exactly what I mean. We are talking about a country where the government has decided to ignore the opposition's win in congressional elections, declared its own non-elected Constituent Assembly to rule by decree, and amid 2000% hyperinflation, repression, tortures and political prisioners, people are dying because Maduro won't allow humanitarian aid from abroad to enter Venezuela.
The role of the Pope is not to get involved in politics, but he could AT LEAST call on Maduro to open a humanitarian channel so that the Venezuelan people can receive medicine and food.
He hasn't been shy to snub Trump's wall, or to take subtle cheap shots at Macri's government, but apparently when it comes to standing up to dictatorships his record is rather weak.
No speeches against ISIS when the people of Iraq were facing genocide two years ago, and no rebuke of Maduro when the Venezuelan people are experiencing the complete collapse of their country and a potential mass famine similar in scale to that which North Korea experienced in the 1990s.
From the corner of the world I'm standing in, his silence on the topic is staggering and puzzling.
@Cheshire_Cat
Jan 18th, 2018 - 09:49 pm - Link - Report abuse +1I'm sure I remember the Vatican mediating discussions between Maduro and the opposition a few months ago. Seems like being too critical of him would be counter-productive to that.
Is anyone trying to send humanitarian aid to Venezuela and being blocked? I hadn't heard of that. And what 'subtle cheap shots' has the Pope made at Macri?
@DemonTree
Jan 18th, 2018 - 11:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Here are a few articles about the Venezuelan government rejecting emergency foreign aid:
http://nytimes.com/2016/09/28/world/americas/venezuela-refuses-us-aid.html
http://nytimes.com/2016/09/28/world/americas/venezuela-refuses-us-aid.html
And here is a peek into their insane mindset (in Spanish):
http://nytimes.com/2016/09/28/world/americas/venezuela-refuses-us-aid.html
Venezuela ruling party VP says “opening a humanitarian channel is a trap for them to invade Venezuela”.
The situation in Venezuela is terrible, and I know this because I've talked with people coming from there and I make a point of reading their news to follow the situation. Venezuelans are being given some food aid by the government - so called “CLAP boxes” - but only if they vote for the ruling party. The government has even devised an electronic ID card people are supposed to use both to vote and to obtain social benefits - a totally Orwellian method of population control. People that don't vote for the party simply get no food, and scarcity ensures it's hard to get it from elsewhere. And those that do vote for the gov are kept at subsistance levels at best. They seem to have taken a page from the North Korean playbook. Massive food aid under international supervision would cut into that mechanism of social control.
As for Macri, as I explained above, the sourfaced 20 minute interview with him, sending a crucifix to Milagro Sala (in prison for embezzlement) all the way from Rome, and not visiting the country even after touring almost every other LatAm state in 3 different trips, seem like not-so-subtle snubs, even though both parties deny any problems.
Cheshire_Cat, since the site update there's a bug in the comment system so if you include more than one link, it replaces them all with the first. You can get round this by taking the 'http' off the front of all links after the first one.
Jan 19th, 2018 - 12:16 pm - Link - Report abuse +1What's happening in Venezuela does seem pretty terrible, and even worse if their neighbours are offering aid and the government is refusing it.
It does seem odd the Pope still hasn't visited his home country. But CFK was still president for nearly half that time, and he didn't visit then either. As for Milagro Sala, why is she even in prison when she hasn't been convicted of anything yet?
So now mercopress is attacking the Pope (with a picture that seems to disprove the article), based on quotes from the Gendarmerie, Macri's favorite bully boys.
Jan 21st, 2018 - 03:25 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Cheshire Cat, I'm grinning like one just trying to suppress the giggles at your absurd reactionary bile. Whether you like it or not, decent people in Argentina and around the world will heed the Pope's call to take care of our beloved Cristina, support her against the persecution you support, and God willing she'll vuelve to clean up Macri's mess =)
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!