Argentines, go home!
About 300,000 Argentines flooded into Brazil for the World Cup, but not everyone returned home. According to data from the National Directorate of Migration, the…
An Argentina soccer fan, covered by an Argentine flag, sleeps on Copacabana beach the morning after his team was defeated by Germany at the World Cup final, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, July 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
About 300,000 Argentines flooded into Brazil for the World Cup, but not everyone returned home. According to data from the National Directorate of Migration, the exact number of people who moved to Brazil is 288,052.
According to El Intransigente.com, the Argentine Ambassador to Brazil, Luis Maria Kreckler, said that: “the streets of Brazil were dyed blue and white, we were by far the country with more presence, and this is something to take into account, I believe that Argentina made a big effort to put together the global party that was the soccer cup of Brazil.”
The problem seems to be that once the World Cup ended, some Argentines decided to stay in Brazil without a return date or a specific place to stay or immediate plans. The atmosphere seems positive in Brazil and what awaits them at home on their return is not an encouraging picture. Financial crisis and political unrest have made a dent of hopelessness in citizens.
The World Cup was a psychological break from the bad times that run in Maradona and Messi’s homeland. Unwilling to return, they preferred the Brazilian beaches and kindness. Once the soccer rivalry ended, they realized Brazil is a wonderful country to live in.
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Brazilian media are reporting that tens of thousands of Argentines remained in the country. They seem to be mostly young males in their twenties. La Capital newspaper quotes Lucas Bazan Pontoni, a 23-year-old penniless actor with no plans to return to Argentina. He is simply one of many Argentines in the same predicament. They are not wealthy people who have resolved to extend their holiday in Copacabana, but kids who eat in community kitchens and do odd jobs to feed themselves.
An Argentina soccer fan sleeps on Copacabana beach the morning after his team was defeated by Germany at the World Cup final, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, July 14, 2014. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
“Brazil is amazing, I want to stay,” said Pontoni, according to newspaper La Capital, “it could be weeks, or months, or longer. I’ll see where life takes me.”
And what will Brazil do with this sudden and unwanted immigration? These Argentines joined the millions of Brazilians who already depend on social services, and although Brazil is doing better than Argentina, which suffers one of the highest inflation rates in the world and all kinds of exchange restrictions that are affecting the internal market, Brazilians certainly do not need foreign homelessness in their country.
Antonio Pedro Figueira de Mello is responsible for the tourism agency in Rio de Janeiro and admitted to the newspaper O Globo that the patrols around the 1,260-kilometer (780 miles) perimeter of the border with Argentina were too relaxed, especially during the World Cup. “The number of Argentinians took us by surprise. Anywhere in the world, people have to say where they are going, how long for, what resources they have and if they have health insurance. That was not the case.”
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The Argentine consulate helped arrange transportation for those who had run out of money, lost or had their paperwork stolen, but many were not interested in such aid and prefer to be hobos abroad than citizens at home.
“I don’t think I will ever go back,” said 25-year old Martin Sichero, a friend of Pontoni, mentioned above. “I think that I came to Brazil to stay,” quotes the newspaper La Capital. Perhaps it was the joy of the near soccer victory or that the warm weather is more tempting than the cold Southern winter. Most likely, these boys want to do some backpacking. Theyre at that age and, sooner or later they will return home.
