The super-rich American land barons in Argentina

here's something to think about...

Since the 1990s, the relatively cheap and expansive acreage of Argentina has attracted millionaires in search of unspoiled estates, including household names such as Ted Turner and Sylvester Stallone. But last month, Argentina's undersecretary for land and social habitat declared war on such land purchases with one highly symbolic act: He marched onto Tompkins's [Douglas Tompkins, ... the founder of the North Face and Esprit clothing lines] land, cut down a fence and called for the expropriation of the property.

[...]

"We want to tell everyone: We're going to continue cutting down fences," said Luis D'Elia, the government secretary. "What is more important, the private property of a few, or the sovereignty of everyone?"

so, is tompkins just another big money gringo, snatching up real estate around the world...? well, not exactly...

Since 1990, Tompkins and his wife -- Kristine McDivitt, the former chief executive of the Patagonia outdoor clothing company -- have bought about 4.7 million acres in Chile and Argentina. Their strategy is to identify properties in danger of ecologically damaging development, buy them, then create private parks that they eventually turn over to the local governments.

but the locals see it differently...

[M]any Argentine officials and social activists want to confiscate the property he says he bought to create an ecological preserve. They think that he and other wealthy foreigners who have bought enormous swaths of the Argentine and Chilean countryside are trying to wrest control of a continent under the guise of environmental preservation.

tompkins's view...

Argentines, [Tompkins] said, don't understand his style of philanthropy. When he talks about eventually donating the land to the government, they suspect a catch.

where have we heard this before...? oh, yeah... the pat buchanan types who claim mexico wants to regain control of the u.s. southwest... but, it's not quite the same... argentinos, and latin americans in general, have good reason to be wary... after all, the history of european and american exploitation of latin america is both long and ugly... and, as always, there's an even deeper and perhaps more powerful dynamic at work...

Tompkins traces the beginnings of the discontent to an American style of land management that is resented here -- specifically, his efforts to hold his neighboring landowners to environmental standards.

He recently financed a legal case against a local forestry company trying to build a dike through wetlands. It was the kind of environmental complaint that is made every day in the United States, but not in a region of Argentina where private ranch owners -- or estancieros -- have held most of the political power for centuries.

"Suddenly they see someone come in and say, 'Hey, what about the rules?' " Tompkins said. "That sort of galvanized people into action against me."

here's where tompkins misses the boat... from my own first-hand experience in the state of new mexico (that's right, folks, the good ol' u.s. of a), i know that when a foreigner/gringo moves in, buys up everything in sight, and starts trying to push change, no matter HOW well-intentioned, it's courting trouble... mr. tompkins needs to seriously re-consider his strategy...

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