De-Woking and Rebuilding Latin America

There’s an old joke in Argentina: Argentines are Italians who speak Spanish, think they’re British, and live in Paris. Sixty-two percent of Argentines have some Italian ancestry. Argentina’s 1853 constitution was influenced by Anglophiles who used British self-government as a model and encouraged British immigration, which later brought soccer. Buenos Aires is nicknamed “the Paris of the Southern Hemisphere,” since many buildings there were designed by French and Belgian architects in the Parisian art nouveau style around the turn of the 20th century. At that time, European immigrants were flooding in, and Argentine beef, wool, grain, and tango dancing were popular in Europe and North America. By 1913, Argentina was one of the 10 wealthiest countries per capita in the world.

Read all of Robert C. Thornett's essay in Commentary magazine.