Comment by justboxing | Hacker News Reader

Comment by justboxing | Hacker News Reader

How come no-one is talking about safety w.r.t. moving to and living in Argentina?

> In the first three months of 2017, there were 77 kidnappings for ransom.

Source: [May 2017] - The Numbers And Locations Of Kidnappings For Ransom In Argentina => http://www.thebubble.com/the-numbers-and-locations-of-kidnap...

> From March 20 to March 31, authorities registered at least 16 express kidnappings in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. According to Clarin, the victims of these kidnappings are of all ages and social classes.

Source: [Apr 2017] - Express Kidnappings on the Rise Again in Buenos Aires => http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/express-kidnappings-...

Can someone who lives there throw some light on the prevalence of ransom kidnappings? I read about this a while back, and want to know if it's really a cause for concern for Americans and other foreigners moving to Argentina for work, or is it mostly localized (i.e. political kidnappings / gang related kidnappings) in which case you can be somewhat "reassured" that it may not happen to you.

I live in Argentina (was born here). I've also lived in USA and other countries. It's hard to describe the situation. I'd be tempted to say that Argentina is rather safe. I've lived here for almost 30 years and I never got robbed. But I got robbed in San Francisco while on vacation for example. It really depends on what you do.

If you're walking alone at 10PM in a not-so-nice neighborhood, then Argentina is not going to be safe. If you come from a REALLY safe country where you don't have the "cautious" skills developed, then it's not going to be safe.

I know many startup founders in Argentina and Buenos Aires. If you go with the safe options: Buenos Aires city in a nice neighborhood (Palermo, Puerto Madero), then you'll be more than fine.

Lomas de Zamora and Moron are poor and crime ridden sections outside the city of buenos aires. Its like talking about Detroit or Flynt in the US(or maybe the worst parts of oakland).

Buenos aires, specially the startup area (palermo, belgrano, recoleta) do not have such a security problem. Contrary to SF where I've witnessed people shooting up drugs in the middle of market street, harassment by crazy homeless people, car vandalization, fights and police chases.

There really isnt a way to statistically answer whats going on with kidnappings, because the official numbers arent in. It is definitely not a day to day occurrence, or something people are worried about.

As a European I lived in Argentina for a year. At one point I took an official looking city cab at the airport and quickly realised that the driver had other intentions than getting me to my apartment. He dropped me off in another part of town after emptying all my pockets, keeping my luggage as ransom. It does not need to be a complex kidnapping for you to feel unsafe.

I'm really surprised by this, there is an official cab office right outside ezeiza, which gives it some legitimacy. How did you pick a cab? (i want to know which ones are actually unsafe)

Use Uber, call a radio taxi, use an app that is used by a local radio taxi or when you are actually at Ezeiza just go to one of the many stands that are right after the scanners before you go out into the main hall.

I am really careful at the points where you will find a lot of tourists like Ezeiza and the central bus station. We've got screwed by a "tapper" once, paid much more for the ride than was actually supposed because he rigged the meter. This happened just outside the bus station where they're waiting for victims from out of town that don't know the tariffs, distances etcetera.

Hailing on the street never went wrong.

I'm argentinian, I've never had issues coming from the airport, thats why i'm asking. Uber works from the airport? thats pretty sweet..

I actually never used Uber! I assumed they were working in the greater Buenos Aires area not just the center. I'd personally take a remise over Uber any day.

It looked like a city cab, yellow and black and was front in the line of all city cabs waiting in Ezeiza. Looking back at it it was a Peugeot that was too old to be running every day. It had the back seat door handles and window levers removed, something you only see when you are already in the car. In the end i was happy that he let me go. It cost me 200 USD ... it could have been worse.

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