Travel warning rankles Argentina

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A bit touchy?

Officials in Argentina weren’t pleased at all this week with a U.S. consular report that provided some candid advise to Argentina-bound visitors.

While generally calling the country safe, the report on a State Dept. travel information web page did warn Argentina-bound travelers about a litany of potential hazards: reckless drivers, domestic flight delays, pickpockets, purse snatchers, scam artists, street protests and even ``express kidnappings,’’ in which unfortunate victims are made to withdraw as much money as possible from ATM machines. All are well-known to Argentines.

One section even advised of alleged terrorist links in the so-called ``triple frontier’’ region bordering Paraguay and Brazil, though the report noted that there was no indication U.S. citizens were targeted.

Unmentioned was the much-reported fact that President George W. Bush’s daughter, Barbara, had her purse snatched in the trendy San Telmo neighborhood six months ago.

Such consular travel reports are rather routine, rarely making news, and, if this wasn’t an election year in Argentina—mayoral voting in Buenos Aires next month, presidential balloting in October—it seems likely no one would have taken umbrage. But defending the national image against perceived calumnies from the northern colossus is seldom an unpopular response in Latin America.

Argentine authorities expressed dismay at the ``unjustified alarms’’ and testily summoned the U.S. ambassador, Earle Wayne, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minor diplomatic dustup then faded from the local press, and the many U.S. and European tourists went about their business.

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires