Police in Mar del Plata, Argentina could never have expected the tale that would unravel after a seemingly routine drug bust. The story they found themselves part of after a 2 am arrest is still causing the lawmen to shake their heads in wonderment.

The smoke that has blanketed Buenos Aires for the past week will continue through at least Wednesday, Servicio Meteorologico Nacional warned today. On Wednesday the wind patterns will provide a respite from the smoke choking the city, however the relief will be minor and short lived.

For city residents the negative health affects of living downwind from a 10,000-hectare grass fire are starting to take hold. Over 400 people have been admitted to hospitals for smoke related ailments, prompting the Ministry of Health to declare a yellow alert for hospitals, ophthalmologists and pediatricians. Authorities in La Plata have recommended people not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.

UPDATE 4/21 03:45 : SMN is predicting that the winds will shift back to the south this morning, providing another smoky day in Capital. Slight clearing may occur by mid-afternoon. Residents are again warned to take precautions against the smoke.

Over 300 people have filed a $15 million lawsuit against farm owners, as well as the provincial and national governments for the damage caused by the fires and the smoke.

In recent years Buenos Aires, and indeed the rest of Argentina, has been experiencing a development boom. It has in fact been described by property developer John Boyle as the largest in the nation’s history.

But it is the regularity with which ambitious projects seem to be left unfinished that grabs the attention of so many. Dramatic empty buildings with no windows or doors and roads that stop in mid air… All can be seen in Argentina’s capital and all lead to one big question: How is this possible?

During the early hours of 8th February 2007, a fire ravaged Villa Cartón, a shantytown built under a motorway flyover in the neighbourhood of Villa Soldati, in the south of Buenos Aires. Nearly 400 families’ homes were destroyed, and 170 people were treated for asphyxia, minor cuts and light burns.

A year on, despite government pledges, little has been done to improve the living situation of the country’s most poor and vulnerable, and the housing deficit is bigger than ever.

On the corner of Plaza and Olzabal in Buenos Aires there is a park hedged on two sides by the exposed brickwork of the adjoining buildings. It’s midday, overcast, and a light breeze is shaking the park’s only tree. Otherwise nothing, no one. Except for a diminutive little man standing on a crate, running a pole up and down a wall.

Meet Blu, one of the most innovative artists working on the streets today.

During October and November 1947, 1,500 indigenous people from the Pilagá tribe were killed in a campaign that started near the town of Las Lomitas and spread throughout the province of Formosa.

Despite the discovery of mass graves more than two years ago, the Argentine government is still refusing to recognize the genocide, and ‘official’ history taught in schools makes no mention of the fact that half of the aboriginal race was wiped out in under a month.

When the economy minister Martin Lousteau announced a new regime of export taxes for agricultural products, he should have anticipated some grumblings in the countryside.

What he probably didn’t envisage was Argentina’s longest ever farming strike, the severing of the country’s main transport arteries, and the noisy return of cacerolas (saucepans) to protests on the streets of Buenos Aires for the first time since economic collapse in 2001-2.

2008 marked the 26th anniversary of the Falklands/Malvinas conflict. The war, although short-lived, continues to weigh heavily on the Argentine conscience. However, the dispute over the islands did not begin in 1982. The territory has been a source of bitter tension since its first sighting by Europeans 500 years ago.

Setting aside the jingoistic proclamations of both sides, what is the true story behind the islands? Who discovered the archipelago and who settled there?

In the sprawling Parque 3 Febrero, by day, you will find families walking, laughing, feeding the ducks, splashing around on boat rides and strolling through the rose gardens. By night the park hosts a far more shady enterprise: transgender prostitution.

By Tom Croasdell
On the night of Monday 6th August 2007, Gonzalo Acro, accompanied by a friend, were approached by three men on a street in Villa Urquiza, Buenos Aires, whilst walking home from the gym. The trio opened fire, and left the pair for dead on the pavement.
Three days later, a spokesman at the Pirovano [...]