Argentina: Bye-Bye to B.A.?
Quick! Name a city in Argentina. Almost certainly, the first response would be Buenos Aires, the country's cultural, business and tourist hub, and for 105 years its capital. Last week President Raul Alfonsin proposed moving the seat of government to Patagonia, a wind-blasted region 475 miles to the southwest. In making his suggestion, Alfonsin described Buenos Aires as an "excessive megalopolis." The 11 million residents of the metropolitan area represent 35% of the country's population.
President Alfonsin's notion provoked immediate comparisons with Brazil, which in 1960 moved its capital inland from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia. Today Rio de Janeiro continues to flourish as the country's cultural center, while politicians and diplomats regard Brasilia as a well-intentioned but disappointing experiment in decentralization.
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