DON'T FALL FOR CHEAP PROPAGANDA

My intention with this blog is to refute the unfounded, morally and historically unsound accusations being made these days about Argentina (my beautiful country). By doing so, I exclude people from the countries I will mention, since the measures taken by politicians in power often do not represent their people (as is the case in my country where NO ONE likes the president). These measures constitute the minimum representation of the executive branch within an imperialist framework of powers and empires throughout extensive periods of history, where in most cases, formal agreements were created to disguise the oppressive methods, changing their name and thus distracting the people. That is why I repeat, I have NOTHING against the people of the countries I will mention; my intention is to INFORM and RAISE AWARENESS about the massive hate campaign that Trump and his entourage of idiots systematically employ.

In the following analysis and presentation, I will reveal historical facts dating back to Argentina's independence, the slave trade by the Portuguese Empire to Brazil and Argentina, and I will also mention the oppressive system used by the US to divide races for years. Finally, I would like to add to this introduction that my intention is that if you think like Trump, first, fuck you; second, if you think a country is only its politicians and their policies, then you need to open your mind and delve deeper into like the Mariana Trench. Furthermore, I would like you to understand that as an international relations student, I use official and reliable sources as my data, not gossip sites. Therefore, I would like you to understand my point when referring to historical facts so that you can understand and know what this campaign wants to erase. If you share my opinion and know that educating yourself before speaking is important, then I like you.

Déjenme saber sus opiniones y disculpen si hay puntos en dónde mi enojo me gana puesto que me molesta seriamente cuando hablan sin saber y más sabiendo que está respaldado por un político tan sucio como Trump. Así que sin más distencion comencemos.

Let me know your opinions, and please excuse me if there are points where my anger gets the better of me, as it seriously bothers me when people speak without knowing the facts, especially knowing it's backed by a politician as corrupt as Trump. So, without further ado, let's begin.

During the 19th and 20th centuries in the Americas (for those who didn't know, America is a continent, not a country) and in the colonizing countries.

I'll start by talking about the African and Afro-descendant population of Argentina and how this came about in the 1800s, as well as in neighboring countries like Brazil and those beyond.

After the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, trade liberalization increased the flow of people. By 1810, Afro-descendants (many of them brought through these networks) represented approximately one-third of the population of Buenos Aires.

In the Río de la Plata region, the slave trade continued to Upper Peru.

The Portuguese extracted slaves from territories like Angola to trade them, obtaining a large profit margin by reselling them in the Río de la Plata region or sending them to Upper Peru. This trade continued until the Triumvirate prohibited it in the territory of the United Provinces on May 25, 1812. ←Argentina.

Brazil definitively prohibited the international slave trade in 1850 through the Eusébio de Queirós Law. However, the total abolition of slavery occurred decades later, on May 13, 1888, with the signing of the Golden Law (signed by Queen Isabella I).

The formal trade in slaves in what is now the United States lasted from 1619 to 1808, while legal slavery continued until 1865. However, systemic abuses, segregation, and institutional violence against African Americans continued legally until the 1960s, and their social and structural consequences persist to this day.

The U.S. Congress prohibited the importation of new slaves from Africa. Despite this, a massive domestic market for the buying and selling of people within the country continued. Immediately after their emancipation, the Southern states created laws to restrict the voting, employment, and movement of Black citizens. This formalized the system of racial segregation known as the Jim Crow laws, under the doctrine of "separate but equal."

See this National Geographic article: https://share.google/qFhhd5FNAenJLYiqL

Why is there a more pronounced concentration of people of African descent in the United States than in the rest of Latin America, specifically the Southern Cone?

According to official data from the World Bank and ECLAC, more than 130 million people of African descent live in Latin America (1 in 4 Latin Americans), concentrated mainly in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Haiti. In comparison, the African American population in the U.S. is around 45 million. (This is current data.)

Going back to 1800… The climatic and agricultural conditions of cotton and tobacco plantations allowed for a higher survival rate. Slave owners encouraged internal reproduction (especially after the prohibition of imports in 1808), causing the slave population to grow organically and massively.

The main reason why the African American population in the U.S. remains a clearly defined demographic group is the strict Anglo-Saxon racial caste system. Historically, the "one-drop rule" prevailed in the U.S. Anyone with even one Black ancestor, regardless of their skin color, was legally and socially classified as "Black."

Meanwhile, in the Americas…

In the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, the processes of racial mixing were entirely different: Unlike the U.S. binary model (white or Black), dozens of classifications emerged in Latin America (mulattoes, zambos, morenos, pardos). People of mixed heritage often gained social status or assimilated into the general population.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, many Latin American countries (such as Brazil, Cuba, or Argentina) actively promoted European immigration and the ideology of racial mixing with the explicit aim of "whitening" the population and diluting African identity. The main promoter and ideologue of the "whitening" project of the population in 19th-century Argentina was Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (president between 1868 and 1874), strongly supported by the intellectual foundations of Juan Bautista Alberdi and implemented institutionally at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (that president was a piece of shit because he not only wanted to impose a European model on Argentina through European immigration but also wanted to erase the indigenous people, gauchos, and immigrants who weren't elitist; he also wanted to suppress the voices of the provinces). Having said that, it's OBVIOUS to assume that what happened in 1800 isn't contemporary with current events; however, the Europeans who arrived in Argentina stayed ONLY in Buenos Aires and not in the rest of the country (assuming that a country is only its capital is very ignorant and idiotic of you). The same thing happened with the arrival of African people; they were all in the capital (it's also very important to clarify that the capital was HERMETIC; what do I mean by this? As I said Previously, the capital was governed by oligarchies and wealthy Buenos Aires residents, as well as European investors and bank owners, etc., so this province did not want to relate to the rest of the country. It is a fact that this is part of the institutional and governmental adaptation process of MY COUNTRY, which constitutes a long number of years in which the residents of Buenos Aires and those of the provinces confronted each other, not only politically but physically. Thus concluding the analysis of why the US and Latin America, specifically the Southern Cone, with emphasis on my country, have a lower population density of Afro-descendants.

Immigration and Population in Argentina

The total population density in Argentina increased from less than 1 inhabitant/km² in the 19th century to 16.9 inhabitants/km² today. The descendants of foreigners make up the vast majority of the population (approximately 65%).

1800-1869: At the beginning of the 19th century, the country was sparsely populated. The First National Census (1869) counted 1,737,000 inhabitants and showed that foreigners represented 12.1% of the population.

1895-1914: The era of the "Great European Immigration." In 1895, foreigners made up 25.4% of the population. In the 1914 Census, they reached their historical peak: nearly a third (29.9%) of all inhabitants of Argentina had been born in another country (mainly Italy and Spain).

1947-1970: Following the World Wars and the postwar period, the figure fell to 15.3% in 1947 and continued to decline to 9.5% in 1970.

1980-2010: A historical transition in which immigration from neighboring countries (Paraguay and Bolivia) surpassed European immigration. The proportion of foreigners fell from 6.8% (in 1980) to 4.5% (in 2010).

In the last two decades, the main migratory flows to Argentina have come from South American countries, with a historical shift marked by the emergence of Venezuela as one of the fastest and largest sources. According to INDEC (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses):

Paraguay (27.0%): It remains by far the largest foreign community in the country. Its flow is historical, continuous, and motivated by employment and geographical proximity.

Bolivia (17.5%): It represents the second largest migratory flow. Of every 100 immigrants living in Argentina, just over 44 come from Paraguay or Bolivia.

Venezuela (8.4%): This is the most disruptive migratory phenomenon of the recent period. It was practically absent from local statistics in the early 2000s, but its exponential growth in the last decade has consolidated its position in third place in the ranking.

In Argentina, residents of practically every nationality in the world are registered (more than 150 countries with active representation in immigration records), formally grouped into around 40 main foreign communities or groups that have organized civil associations, clubs, and cultural centers. According to the National Population, Households, and Housing Census: These communities are not evenly distributed. More than 73% of the entire foreign population is concentrated in the Province of Buenos Aires (especially in Greater Buenos Aires) and in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA).

Afro-descendant communities currently exist in Argentina, despite the historical myth of their supposed disappearance. In fact, according to the final results of the 2022 National Population Census by INDEC (National Institute of Statistics and Censuses), 302,936 people in the country identify as Afro-descendant or with Black or African ancestry.

The Afro-Argentine community today is not homogeneous; it is mainly composed of three large groups: 1. Afro-Argentines of "colonial lineage": These are the direct descendants of African people who were forcibly brought to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata during the slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries. Although the official narrative of the 19th-century state attempted to render them invisible under the narrative of a "purely white nation," these families kept their social networks, their memory, and their cultural legacy alive (such as candombe and the roots of tango). They have a strong historical presence in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos.

Starting in the 1920s and 1930s, a significant wave of migrants arrived from Cape Verde. They settled mainly in port areas such as Dock Sud (Avellaneda) and Ensenada, working in the merchant marine. Their central institutional organization is the Cape Verdean Union Mutual Aid Society, founded in 1932.

From the late 1990s and 2000s, a wave of migrants of Senegalese origin began arriving. This is a predominantly young, male community focused on the urban retail sector.

The census map of Afro-descendant self-identification shows that the population is heavily urbanized: Buenos Aires Province: Concentrates 42.5% (mainly in Greater Buenos Aires). Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA): Contains 13.4% of the community. Interior of the country: The provinces of Córdoba (6.1%) and Santa Fe (5.5%) contain the remaining major centers of the organized community.

But you wouldn't know all this data if you weren't from Argentina or weren't Afro-descendant in Argentina.

Having said that, I would like to add the participation of an Afro-descendant woman in our country who helped fight in the War of Independence and whose face is on a banknote that Argentinians use every day.

María Remedios del Valle (1766–1847) was a military officer and heroine, recognized as the "Mother of the Nation." Of African descent, she fought in the War of Independence and was appointed captain by Manuel Belgrano. She participated from the British Invasions (1807) and accompanied the Army of the North throughout its campaign, fighting on the front lines and tending to the wounded in key battles such as Tucumán and Salta.

Currently

Thousands of videos with millions of views, tweets, and comments became a cesspool where people from all over the world converged, united by a common sentiment: Argentina is an evil and racist country, and any decent person would hate it. This was crystal clear in the match against England, where thousands of people from countries that were colonies, especially our Latin American brothers and sisters, decided to side with a flag that illegitimately occupies our territory, murdered 649 Argentine soldiers less than four decades ago, and currently threatens our sovereignty, simply because it's fashionable now. It's disappointing; the algorithm rewards them for hating us. During the World Cup, millions of people converged on virtual platforms to support the most imperialist and genocidal countries possible "as long as Argentina doesn't win"; even those who were once colonies of some of them.

I'm quoting a journalist's article that perfectly reflects what I want to say, and I hope that whoever reads this will change their perception or at least reconsider what other countries do to "fit in" to the norm imposed by imperialist countries. "Let's not behave as they would expect a Latin American to behave: like a subject with an inferiority complex and internalized hatred. Because when a Frenchman, a Norwegian, or a Japanese person speaks proudly of their country, they're a patriot, and that's what they love. But when an Argentinian does the same, they're an egomaniac. Because we're a poor country, falling apart and held together with wire—even more so now, governed by a subservient and sellout far-right that hates us more than all our haters combined—and yet, we'll remain convinced that our country is the best in the world, the most beautiful and the most sublime, and that gets under their skin." https://share.google/OyrNJWDLpR6UhRPmn 

The anti-Argentine hate campaign on social media is just another example of how these platforms reproduce stigmatizing discourses to generate a shared sentiment that favors the algorithm. And that is worrying.

On the other hand, I would like to say that those who think Argentina is a racist country should look at THEIR own country and look way back in history. How did they treat women? Immigrants? The poor? Neighboring countries? People of other religions? Because let me tell you, WE ARE PRISONERS OF OUR HISTORY, BUT WHAT MATTERS IS HOW WE REFORM IT IN THE FUTURE. A clear example of this is the US, which has constantly segregated minorities, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Muslims, Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, etc. Our country didn't close its doors to immigrants like the US did. We didn't create an exclusive system to separate Black people from white people because they considered them inferior. We didn't have colonies in Africa that were exploited for centuries, and now they hide behind a false sense of inclusion.

So mind your own business, because no country is free from racism.