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Reply: crime in Argentina, is it that bad?
mikeb302000 said...
Dear FerFAL, You are just a barrel of laughs. Is it that bad where you are? I live in Rome Italy and unless I go out looking for it, I don’t see much trouble. I think it’s a bit worse in the States, depending on where of course. But is Argentina so bad? Or is it just were you’re located?

FerFAL said...
Italy is of course much safer than Argentina.
Argentina is a “High risk” country, worse than Brazil in the last few years, and in the range of places like Colombia and Ecuador.

But I suppose it also depends on what you consider bad.
People live in some of the worst hell holes and it’s a fact that suicide rates are much worse in much safer countries such as Japan or Norway, where people should be happier because of the higher standard of living.

For example there was this guy that found my blog through Reddit, also an Argentine, that said I was full of it, that I was greatly exaggerating things.

I’m used to people thinking differently, but I asked him “Ok, where are you from?”
He said “La Plata”
I told him “La Plata has been hit hard with crime recently, seems that beating up old people to death is like a local sport there, happens pretty much every week. Every time I turn on the news something terrible happened in La Plata, and you thing I’m exaggerating?”

He said “well ok, I was robbed on the street two times and suffered one home invasion since 2002, but I still think you exaggerate things”.

I didn’t answer to the guy. Had more important things to do with my time… like watching Lazy town…:^)

Later I checked the thread and an American guy told him “dude..that’s not exactly good , or normal”

What’s bad for me might be easy for someone that lives in some nameless country in Africa that just had his entire family chopped to pieces with machetes.

Some parts of Buenos Aires are very nice, some parts just look like war zones, most of the country simply looks like other latin American countries.
But no matter where you live, crime is bad here in Argentina.

If the mayor of Buenos Aires Mauricio Macri admits crime is out of control, and the vice president Julio Covos and Governor say the same, I can’t imagine how anyone can deny it.
Hell, Julio Covos talked about preventing civil war when he voted against the president’s 44% tax on farmers.

It’s no joke. Pretty serious deal.

FerFAL
Posted by FerFAL at 7:28 AM 11 comments
Labels: Argentina, crime

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2009
The weakest link
Right know I’m writing the chapter of the book related to the weakest point in your preparedness plan regarding security.

Lets say you train with firearms, I’ve convinced you of carrying even when you go to the toilet, you trained in H2H fighting and spar regularly.
If your gun has a critical failure of some kind that can’t be solved then to bad for Mr. Bad Guy because you’re going to get rid of him with edged weapons, an umbrella, or your hands. All very painful.

Now that I got you to feel all macho and such, what about your wife?
How good is she in a fight?
How about your kids?
I have no grandeur delusions about myself. Still I know I can take care of myself fairly well.
But my wife is like a slightly zoomed Barbie, she’s very petite.
My son is just 6 years old, and my other boy is 4 months old.

Strategically speaking, it’s a nightmare.

We were talking with my wife the other day, and she told me that she knew perfectly well how vulnerable she would be if someone just tried to pull our baby away from her.

Babies get stolen here just like anywhere else. A bit worse given that corruption makes it easier for them to disappear and then reappear as legally adopted babies.

Not long ago my wife was mugged by a bunch of kids with a gun (including little girls), less than 10 years old.

The mugger’s target priority goes something like:

1) Old folks
2) Women
3) Kids
4) Weak/timid looking men

What can you do?

For starters, get everyone onboard. A silly wife/husband that thinks there’s nothing to worry about even when crime becomes painfully evident is just a disaster waiting to happen.

That kind of folk get hit, and they get hit hard.
I’ve lost count of how many times the woman next door got robbed in her home.
She pays the price for being so sloppy regarding personal security.

Once you get your family to take this issue seriously, you have to set some security standards.

1) Not chit chatting on the front door. Better to go inside for a cup of tea and talk all you want, safely.
2) Doors and windows closed. Even when you must ventilate the house, open only windows that have bars, or second story windows that are hard to reach.
3) No one in the family, no one, opens the door without the authorization of an adult. My kid used to rush to the door and look through a window near by. We’ve talked about that so he doesn’t do it any more.
4) The adult will NOT open the door unless it’s someone he knows well or is a person he/she is expecting.
Unauthorized power company people or cops will have to wait outside until you can make a phone call and check that they are ok.

The fake cop/power/phone/gas company guy is still a common way to get in. Mostly very old people fall for this trick these days.

Regarding walking around and such, there’s little you and your family can do about this.
As I always say, you don’t get to bug out to the hills, you have to go on with your life.
But you CAN set some parameters.

1) Not going out when its dark.
2) Get your wife to carry a firearm. If not possible then OC spray.
3) Always keep your eyes opened and check your 6 ( back)
4) If in doubt, better to play it safe. My wife will hurry and walk into a store if she feels someone is getting too close or is acting suspiciously.
In one occasion when a gunfight started, my wife rushed into a store and went all the way to the back behind several walls ( we have mostly interior brick and mortar walls here)
She told me “I wasn’t going to stay there in the front of the shop. I could have gotten shot through the glass”
Good girl. :)
5) Avoid places where there’s little public, specially deserted streets. It’s no guarantee, but many robbers prefer to operate where there’s little people.

About your kids.
It’s hard when they are so little .
I tell my six year old to fight if a stranger grabs him. I tell him to fight, punch and scream like there’s no tomorrow “ Help! He’s not my dad/mom Help, he’s a pervert, Help”

People usually don’t get involved, but kids have a greater chance of receiving help, specially if the bystanders think the guy is a pervert.

A robber may just take your wallet and that’s that.

A guy taking your kid… you don’t want to know what’s more likely to happen. It’s not good.
Either he’s getting kidnapped by child molesters, degenerates, to sell him/her for child prostitution, there’s even been kids that later where found without some of their organs.(sold for transplants)
Best case scenario they just want a ransom. But then again they might kill him none the less, and you don’t want chubby fingers being sent toyou by mail, like in the Ariel Strajman kidnap.

Just a few pointers guys, take care.

FerFAL
Posted by FerFAL at 12:32 PM 10 comments
Labels: crime, Security, Self-Defense