The history of las villas miserias in argentina
an anthropological analysis of las villas
“Mainstream Argentinian culture places this stigma on people from Las Villas because the vast majority of them resort to violence and drug dealing as a means of coping and surviving in their conditions”, Ariana expressed, “They generalize all villeros under that one umbrella. This has also led to the villeros building a stigma around those who live in Buenos Aires. It’s just a bad situation overall that is dividing Argentina as a whole”
- Ariana Tonero
“Sometimes when we are passing by dangerous zones here in the U.S, my mom will refer to them as a “villa”. I also remember one time I was visiting Argentina, I was in the car with my family and we passed by a villa and the google map immediately sent out a message that said “entering an unsafe neighborhood”
- Brisa Cora, 11th
According to the World Bank, 689 million people, about 9.2% of the world, live in extreme poverty with less than $1.90 a day. There seems to be a never-ending cycle of poverty around the world, where poor communities grow and are simply isolated from the rest of the nation. This marginalization is seen in Las Villas Miserias in Argentina. Poverty has always been a prominent crisis in these villas located near Buenos Aires, but COVID-19 sparked an even brighter light on this issue as the villeros suffered the most from the virus. The history of Las Villas Miserias shows the various factors that prevent the end of poverty, not only in Argentina but around the world too. Oftentimes people blame individuals for not “working hard enough” when there are solely structural issues.
What is the culture of poverty?
To begin with, Las Villas Miserias are known for their physical appearance as these communities are visibly different from mainstream Buenos Aires. Poor communities such as Las Villas lack the materials and social resources necessary to survive. Throughout history, urbanization has led to extreme poverty throughout the world as people don’t seem to have the cultural capital, knowledge, to “make it” into the urban society. Oftentimes, poverty turns into a cycle that unfortunately a lot of people can’t escape. This idea can be explained using the concept of culture of poverty which was created by anthropologist Oscar Lewis. He studied poor families in Mexico and Puerto Rico and concluded that poverty is the result of people’s values and norms. His goal was to explain the cultural values that characterized poor people. By studying these families, he realized that children who live in poor conditions will internalize feelings of hopelessness and desperation. For example, children who live in poor communities may be used to showering once or twice a week and eat as little as possible to conserve the limited resources they may have. By getting used to these norms, they internalize feelings of hopelessness that limit their ability to see opportunities that may exist around them. Oscar Lewis believes that this concept explains why people who grow up poor often remain poor.
Context: when? How? Why? what?
Las Villas Miserias were a direct result of the Great Depression in the 1930s. These communities became known as “Villas de Emergencia'' because poor immigrants coming from Europe (mostly Italy) sought refuge in these areas. These immigrants began building warehouses from scratch, with whatever materials they could find; more immigrants settled in Las Villas which led to a high concentration of people living in these areas. Due to this large population, the villeros began building houses on top of each other, making extremely unstable buildings that were made from the scraps that were available to them. Several events motivated more people to move to Las Villas, such as the economic crisis of 2001, and the military regime in the 70s. These events increased poverty in Argentina and made the Villas grow in size and numbers. To this day, Las Villas continuously grow and are known as communities that are concentrated with people who have fallen into poverty. Most of the villas share a lack of infrastructure and access to basic services- no mains water (water supplied by the public water supply), no electricity, no gas. Most villas also lack an official power grid; cables hang across the settlements, connecting to electricity from nearby power lines.
The rich vs. the poor
There is a history of division between Buenos Aires and Las Villas Miserias. Las Villas continue to be marginalized in society as the government does not respond to their calls for help. Although this division has been present for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2019 made it a lot more prominent. The Villeros can maintain themselves and their families through the informal job market, meaning they are required to leave their homes every day to gain money. Just as the entire world paused when the pandemic first began, the villeros were expected to stay in their homes, quarantined, to stop the spread of the virus. The government began holding power over the villeros by creating quarantine mandates that everyone in Argentina was expected to follow. Although the government was simply trying to stop the spread and protect citizens, they didn’t realize the standards they placed were completely unrealistic and unreasonable for the villeros. Many families living in Las Villas faced an inner conflict where they had to pick between their health and their jobs. The Villeros knew that if they followed the quarantine mandates, they wouldn’t be able to maintain themselves or their families as they relied on the informal economy to gain money. Resources such as technology and the internet were unavailable to them, whereas, many people in Buenos Aires could simply connect on Zoom and work in the comfort of their homes.
Due to these unrealistic expectations, several villeros were resisting the government’s power. According to an article written by Kinga Harasim, Ramona Medina, one of the community leaders of Villa 31 protested for days against the unjust treatment she was experiencing.
“Here I am, trying to find an answer to everything that Santilli [deputy mayor of Buenos Aires] says about us having water, [when he says] that everything is resolved. We have been without water for eight days now and they ask us to maintain hygiene, not to go outside. How do you expect us not to go outside if I have to go and buy water?”, protested Ramona.
The pandemic has had a huge role in highlighting the inequalities present in Argentinian society. The group that was affected the most from COVID-19 was the most disadvantaged, not because of a lack of immunity but because of a lack of resources and a lack of attention coming from the government. There is no political interest in reducing this huge gap between mainstream society and Las Villas, or interest in coming up with a comprehensive response to the virus that includes all social groups. This has turned into a conflict between the rich versus the poor and it has built a huge stigma around Las Villas and the villeros. As previously mentioned, Ramona Medina struggled with getting the government’s attention even when protesting. Harasim stated that “despite being in an at-risk group because she suffered from diabetes and had a daughter with multiple disabilities, Ramona received no help from the government, which didn’t even respond to her protests. After 12 days without mains water, she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and died after three days in the hospital”. Unfortunately, Ramona was not the only victim living in Las Villas who suffered from the virus; of the total number of 16,984 people infected with COVID-19 in the City of Buenos Aires, 40% occur in villas. This just shows the inefficiency of the government’s actions in stopping this crisis.
government tries to take action
The government created an urbanization project worth 250 million dollars to transform Villa 31, one of the various villas in Argentina, into a barrio, also known as an official neighborhood. However, their attempt failed to succeed as there is a deep mistrust between the villeros and the government. The mainstream culture has built stereotypes of the villeros, labeling all of them as violent criminals, or drug abusers. Although many villeros do turn to drugs and violence to cope with their state of despair, many villeros do not. These villeros who are trying to get out of their impoverished states have a hard time finding jobs in the city because of the stigma Buenos Aires has built around them; it has become a never-ending cycle. The villeros continue to feel unheard by the government as they haven’t done anything to help them or reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, especially with the crisis of the pandemic.
Part of the urbanization project was creating plazas around the villas to make the communities look more aesthetically pleasing. In one of the construction sites, stated by Luisa Rollenhagen in an article she wrote for The Guardian, children from different Villas met up to paint a mural. In their eyes, they were trying to show that they belonged there, that it was their neighborhood. However, the government saw it as appropriation which made the villeros feel upset. The government immediately covered the mural the children made, hiding the villeros’ identity. Rollenhagen quoted Fr Guillermo Torre, a villero that had lived in the neighborhood since 1999, he said, “There are many moments like that, where it seems like [the government] feels they need to come and ‘educate’ people.” There is a constant miscommunication between the Villeros and the government that leads to cultural clashes. There is no understanding coming from either side, no compromise, leaving Las Villas marginalized outside of Buenos Aires. The government will have to work on tearing the wall down that villeros have built, the mistrust that is keeping Argentina from being united as a whole.
How has mainstream argentinian culture been impacted by las villas?
There is a lot of tension between Buenos Aires and Las Villas Miserias because as previously mentioned, mainstream culture has created a negative stereotype around all villeros. Ariana Tonero (11), has learned about this stereotype and is very aware of Las Villas Miserias as she comes from an Argentinian family.
“Mainstream Argentinian culture places this stigma on people from Las Villas because the vast majority of them resort to violence and drug dealing as a means of coping and surviving in their conditions”, Ariana expressed, “They generalize all villeros under that one umbrella. This has also led to the villeros building a stigma around those who live in Buenos Aires. It’s just a bad situation overall that is dividing Argentina as a whole”
The word “villero” or “villera” has become a part of Argentinian vocabulary. They use these words to describe when people look “bad” or suspicious. The word “villa” has also gained a new meaning in mainstream Argentinian culture, as people use it to describe “bad” places.
In addition, Brisa Cora (11) is another Argentinian student who has learned about Las Villas Miserias from her Argentinian parents. She explained that to them, the villas represented poor and extremely dangerous neighborhoods.
“Sometimes when we are passing by dangerous zones here in the U.S, my mom will refer to them as a “villa”. I also remember one time I was visiting Argentina, I was in the car with my family and we passed by a villa and the google map immediately sent out a message that said “entering an unsafe neighborhood”. Mainstream Argentina definitely looks down on las villas, and because of this I tend to forget that there are unequal opportunities presented to villeros, therefore, it is extremely difficult to get out of there, especially if you are born in a villa” Cora expressed.
Brisa also shared that the only source of education for children in Argentina is through private schools. “If you can’t pay for a private school… There is no education, so how are the villeros supposed to come out of their situation? Public school teachers will simply go on strike; oftentimes they don’t show up,” she shared, “I’m not going to lie, the villeros are blamed for a lot of the violence that is present in Argentina, but it is their only resource.”
This never-ending cycle of poverty is a result of several different factors. First, the government does not respond to the villeros’ needs, and their lack of resources and opportunities limits them from living a better life under better conditions. Since they have nowhere else to turn, many villeros become violent, which is why mainstream culture looks down on them, another factor that won’t allow the end of these marginalized communities. The villeros don’t have the knowledge to do anything else but stay in Las Villas. The pandemic was able to show the inequality issue between the rich and the poor in Argentina; the villeros continue to struggle today as they are neglected from mainstream society. This same scenario of marginalization and extreme poverty can be seen in other parts of the world as opportunities are unequally distributed.
