NEW YORK -- After returning from Argentina, my native country, I am deeply puzzled. It is difficult to reconcile the image of the proud country I left more than 30 years ago with the one I saw again recently. How can I explain the hundreds -- or thousands -- of people who go scavenging every day as soon as the sun sets? Or the retired workers with pitiful salaries and a look of desperation on their faces banging on the doors of banks that refuse to give them their hard-earned savings? Is this really happening in the country once considered the "breadbasket of the world"? Or is it a nightmare from which I am unable to wake up?
After World War I, Argentina was one of the most rapidly developing countries in the world. How then to explain that a resource-rich nation, with a highly educated middle class, oil, minerals and fertile land is in the present situation?
True, in the past few years, Argentina has faced some difficult external circumstances. Falling global prices for grain undercut export earnings; Brazil's currency devaluation cut Argentina's exports to its largest customer; amid a global economic downturn Argentina faced increased reluctance by foreign firms to invest in the country.