Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires - Ernesto Baxter
Blood, Fire and Cheap Alcohol in the Heart of Buenos Aires
The Congreso area is located in the Balvanera neighborhood, in the heart of Buenos Aires, the capital of the Republic of Argentina. With over three million residents, plus hundreds of thousands who cross from the Province of Buenos Aires to the City every day for work, the capital never rests.
The neighborhood is traversed daily by hundreds of office workers, public employees, students, hustlers, and homeless people. Situated just a few blocks from the Río de la Plata and Plaza de Mayo, the surroundings of the National Congress are composed of a strange mixture of historical centers, constant political riots, and various forms of marginality.
Founded in 1889, the Congress stands imposingly in front of Entre Ríos Ave. Due to the ongoing social protests and the escalation of police repression driven by right-wing President Javier Milei, the sidewalk in front of Congress is permanently fenced off.
Since the raving Milei won the elections with 56% of the votes, he has focused on dismantling the state, enriching the large companies that control the country, and slashing the public budget, pensions, and salaries to the bone. According to the EPH (Poverty and Indigence Index), by October 2024, less than a year after Milei took office, 52.9% of Argentines will be living below the poverty line. In a country with such a strong tradition of social protests as Argentina, the people’s responses have not been long in coming.
As the venue where the bloody laws proposed by the President and his party, La Libertad Avanza, are debated and passed, it’s rare for a week to go by without large marches, demonstrations, and protests in front of the historic building. When this occurs, the Plaza de los Dos Congresos located in front of the venue and the surrounding avenues—Entre Ríos, Rivadavia, and Hipólito Yrigoyen—turn into a battlefield. Protesters shout, police shoot, beat, gas, and indiscriminately detain people, cars catch fire, and Congress takes on an atmosphere of urban warfare that anyone visiting Buenos Aires must experience at least once in their life.
Before the clashes, when organizations gather to protest, Plaza de los Dos Congresos fills up, and the drums and chants of the unions sound loudly. This is an excellent moment for travelers to visit Congreso. You can find a whole diversity of culinary options in the street vendors who sell typical protest dishes like choripanes, bondiola sandwiches, hamburgers, and even northern foods like salteñas -a type of empanada- and salchipapas. As a dessert and to combat the heat, there are Marcianos, artisanal ice creams made from frozen juices. An obligatory choice for those wanting to enjoy the atmosphere of the march with a slightly distorted mind is the university students selling brownies infused with marijuana (“brownies mágicos” or “brownies locos”) and the wide variety of alcohol available, from all kinds of beers to Fernet with Coca Cola, or the classic drink of every demonstration: wine mixed with soda served in a “degollado” (a bottle filled with ice, cut in half to serve as a container).
Those who often join the fight against the police, along with indiscriminately stealing the cell phones of unsuspecting protesters, are the derogatorily called “fisuras”, hustlers, street dwellers, and lumpen individuals who are the true population of Congreso. The spacious Plaza, the various bars selling cheap alcohol, and the availability of all kinds of drugs make this neighborhood an idyllic place for anyone who enjoys stealing, escaping reality, or simply enjoying a bit of freedom. Congress at night is an ideal place to visit and interact with local outcasts. On a normal night, the police usually don’t bother, and for those interested, it’s possible to buy and consume marijuana, crack, and cocaine by talking to practically anyone on the street.
After experiencing a massive protest and the adrenaline rush of narrowly escaping police bullets, there’s nothing better than walking a couple of blocks down Rivadavia Ave. to places like the legendary Bellagamba (Rivadavia Ave. 2138, ¡Open since 1925!), a bar that has long been a refuge for all sorts of characters from the neighborhood. Another great option is simply buying a cheap bottle of wine and sitting in the Plaza to enjoy the apocalyptic destruction post-demonstration, losing yourself until dawn in conversations with friends and street characters, who will undoubtedly approach you for a drink, a puff of a joint, or a cigarette.
Congreso is a place that pulses, that lives, and is undoubtedly a reflection of the political and dangerous identity of the City of Buenos Aires. An identity that will never be extinguished by arrests or police beatings, because in Congreso, the resilience of marginality and the shouts of the people are impossible to silence.
