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I'm going to have to third Bogota... I've never been to other cities in South America but I always felt safe there. There are a lot of police and security guards, and they seemed to be doing their jobs! Haha. Seriously, I loved it there.
Bogotá?! Seriously?
I didn't have any problems in Bogotá.. but most of the tourists I had met in Bogotá were robbed.. Bogotá is probably the most dangerous big city in all of Colombia in terms of crime.
Don't get me wrong, I loved Bogotá and it was my favorite city in colombia, but I think you were just a bit naive as to what was going on around there :P
People say Cartagena is safe but I was attacked in the street my second day there. They broke my collar bone and I had to end my vacation and go home. And I was in the main tourist area with lots of people around when this happened.
I think when people say Colombia is safe what they really mean is that Colombia is safer than it used to be. Well it used to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
People say Cartagena is safe but I was attacked in the street my second day there. They broke my collar bone and I had to end my vacation and go home. And I was in the main tourist area with lots of people around when this happened.
I think when people say Colombia is safe what they really mean is that Colombia is safer than it used to be. Well it used to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world.
Safer does not equal safe.
Yeah, my buddy is a Navy SEAL and was was sent to train the Colombian navy, him and his friends were "robbed" at knife point.. well the guy pulled out a knife on them and they beat him to a pulp while the cops watched Never know who you're messin with.
Any normal person would have been robbed though, and you are right, Colombia is MUCH safer than what it used to be, but not even Colombians would call it safe. Hell, most Colombians thought I was crazy for some of the things I did.. and I didn't feel I did that much crazy stuff.
For most tourists, like yourself, you mistake the migrant workers you see from Perú, Bolivia, and Paraguay as Argentines. Those are the non-white people who occupy Argentina, mostly illegally and unchecked. They would be equivalent to the USA's problem with Mexicans and Central Americans, etc. Actually, many of them do now work, but live off government meant subsidies and panhandling (or stealing!). They do not look like Argentines, nor do they speak like us. They have a similar language, but to any local, they are not Argentines. The vast majority of porteños is of European ancestry, the largest group being the Italians (over 50% of Argentines have an Italian last name), followed by the Spaniards, Germans, etc. After NYC, we have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
Argentina is NOT a safe city. If you walk out of the touristy areas, you will most likely be mugged or robbed. This frequently happens to locals who are followed to their front doors and are demanded entry by some delinquent. Friends of mine have been gagged and held at gun-point or knife-point while their entire apartment was ransacked. Of course, after the crisis of 2001 this is rampant.
Those living on the outskirts of town in places like Liniers (Retiro), hunt by day or night looking for prey (money, objects of value on people). The hunters are mostly Peruvian. While the USA has been used to dealing with this problem, it is a fairly new problem to Argentina. Drugs from other countries have been brought to Argentina recently, creating a new and rather ungovernable problem.
Eastern/Armenian/Jewish communities, a Chinatown and a Japanese community. There aren't a lot of black folks down that way though. BA is still a diverse city.
The culture is overwhelmingly European though - there's pretty much no indigenous influence.
As far as safety goes, I'd imagine BA is safer than Caracas, Rio or Bogota. You're probably more likely to get robbed or swindled in BA than in a North American city but violent crime is less prevalent.
Montevideo is very safe, but it's so tranquil it's almost eerie - it feels sketchy because it seems like everyone is stirring and just watching you. There are some bad neighborhoods though with some of the same tell-tale signs as a North American city. Some of it is just run-down and sketchy looking but otherwise safe. You're probably more likely to get robbed in MVD than if a city in the US though. Uruguay is a nice country with a relatively high level of development but there are some third world-esque slums within MVD.[/quote]
Stop lying. BA has tons of "villeros", Paraguayans, Bolivians, Peruvians, Armenians, Jews, Africans in Once, Dominican prostitutes in Constitución, Chinese people near Belgrano, blah blah, etc. Only a shameless booster, who cannot see BA for what it is, would say that it is 97% "unmixed" (lol, yeah, right..lest we forget many Italians - the main group porteños are descended from - were only recently considered to be "white") white. BA is, at best, 70-75% white (and falling).
Do you consider the Mexicans, Haitians, Dominicans, etc. in the USA to be American?
For most tourists, like yourself, you mistake the migrant workers you see from Perú, Bolivia, and Paraguay as Argentines. Those are the non-white people who occupy Argentina, mostly illegally and unchecked. They would be equivalent to the USA's problem with Mexicans and Central Americans, etc. Actually, many of them do now work, but live off government meant subsidies and panhandling (or stealing!). They do not look like Argentines, nor do they speak like us. They have a similar language, but to any local, they are not Argentines. The vast majority of porteños is of European ancestry, the largest group being the Italians (over 50% of Argentines have an Italian last name), followed by the Spaniards, Germans, etc. After NYC, we have the largest Jewish population outside of Israel.
Argentina is NOT a safe city. If you walk out of the touristy areas, you will most likely be mugged or robbed. This frequently happens to locals who are followed to their front doors and are demanded entry by some delinquent. Friends of mine have been gagged and held at gun-point or knife-point while their entire apartment was ransacked. Of course, after the crisis of 2001 this is rampant.
Those living on the outskirts of town in places like Liniers (Retiro), hunt by day or night looking for prey (money, objects of value on people). The hunters are mostly Peruvian. While the USA has been used to dealing with this problem, it is a fairly new problem to Argentina. Drugs from other countries have been brought to Argentina recently, creating a new and rather ungovernable problem.
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Bogotá is probably the most dangerous big city in all of Colombia in terms of crime. 
Never know who you're messin with.
safety and ethnicity/race in Buenos Aires
