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From Pickpockets to Hangings: Buenos Aires's Enduring Crime Problem
🇦🇷 Argentina /Culture & Society

From Pickpockets to Hangings: Buenos Aires's Enduring Crime Problem

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Sources not specified Context piece
  • A writer lost his phone to a pickpocket in Buenos Aires's crowded Barrio Chino, prompting a reflection on historical crime in the city.
  • Research into 1810 Buenos Aires revealed that thieves and murderers operated openly, often using the dark streets and poorly lit lamps for their crimes.
  • In 1811, the government imposed harsh penalties, including death by hanging for violent robbery or theft exceeding 100 pesos, and ten years of prison for lesser offenses.

A recent phone theft in Buenos Aires's bustling Barrio Chino led a writer to explore the city's historical crime rates. The incident, where a pickpocket deftly stole his phone while he was lecturing his daughter on security, mirrored a paradox of being robbed while trying to prevent it.

In the moment I was lecturing my daughter about security, I ended up losing it myself.

— the writerDescribing the irony of his own phone theft.

Delving into Felipe Bosch's "Historia del antiguo Buenos Aires," the writer discovered that crime was rampant even in the early days of the May Revolution in 1810. Bands of robbers and murderers lurked on the city's outskirts and in vacant lots within the city itself. Buenos Aires, then a small settlement of 400 blocks, offered little security after dark. Criminals exploited the dim, flickering light from tallow-fueled street lamps, which often went out by midnight and were not lit on moonlit nights, to carry out brutal attacks with daggers and clubs.

In those times, Buenos Aires was a small village of 400 blocks, bounded by the Río de la Plata to the east, Rodríguez Peña and Solís streets to the west, Avenida Brasil to the south, and Retiro to the north.

— the writerDescribing the city's size during the colonial era.

The escalating violence prompted the First Triumvirate in 1811 to enact extreme measures. Those convicted of violent robbery faced the death penalty by hanging. Even thieves who stole more than 100 pesos without violence were subject to execution. Lesser offenses or non-violent thefts resulted in ten-year prison sentences, often involving hard labor on public works projects.

The darkness helped them stab their daggers or deliver their clubs to unsuspecting victims circulating in the city.

— the writerDescribing how criminals operated at night.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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