American! What do you know about Argentina, Chile, Brazil or Venezuela?

Question

Do you know anything about South American countries?
Brief commentary (social, cultural, political or anything?)

I'm glad to get all these answers which show the diversity of opinion on that matter.
I was to give the best answer to transvainia, because it's very characteristic, but later, I thought it better and I see that if there are good answers of people who know about the matter. Anyway, transvainia sends my greetings to Uncle SAM.

I think, what a sad! that being in the same continent there is a breach (social, cultural, historical, political) so deep.

Answer 1

Been there, done that.

Argentina is in deep economic s**t. But it's still a pretty country with super nice people and really cute women.

Chile is a nice place to live and in my opinion the only country in
SA to live or invest in, though I wouldn't go too far trusting their new president just yet. Great country, 10/10.

Brazil took a dangerous turn to the extreme left with its coalition with Venezuela, but after Venezuela's president told Bolivia's president to nationalize oil and thus screwed the brazilians over, Brazil is straightening a bit; nice place though, great people, bit dangerous in the large cities.

And Venezuela, well, what a s**t hole. Their president is a lunatic and wants to turn the country into a second Cuba, you know, trying to revive communism and all. And with that lunatic giving away billions of dollars away around the world, taking care of everybody elses problems while not taking care of his own country's problem... I wouldn't want to go there in a million years. The government doesn't oppress the people though, crime does, and the govt does nothing to solve that issue.
More than half of the country's oil revenue is being stolen by corrupt officials or given away to other countries to buy their sympathy. (Venezuela has more deaths due to crime in a year than Iraq does to war, try 10000 to 15000 murders in one year on for size) But the problem is the govt, not the people, some of the greatest and nicest people i've met in my life are from Venezuela, and it's a beautiful country, great tourism potential. True enough though that the poor are receiving more services and such, but still, with the revenue of oil they're getting, everybody could have such a great country, but they're not. I wonder. If the govt would actually stop giving away money and start building and giving itself to the benefit of their people and not cuba and argentina, they'd have something.

Thanks but no thanks.

Answer 2

Argentina: Quite little, actually, only that it's near Uruguay, which is where my former roommate was from. She and/or her friends would often go there to ski during the winter.

Chile: Apparently one of the best winemakers in the world, cold climate, and the site of some important ancient Incan remains (some was found in the Andes, where the cold, dry mountain air preserved the mummies of three Incan children). It is also one of the southernmost countries in the world.

Brazil: One of the countries that positively dominate at soccer, principal language is Portuguese, not Spanish. There's also carnivale.

Venezuela: Oh, Jesus. I used to know a ton about Venezuela (I did a report on it in like fifth grade). It's home to Angel Falls, one of the largest falls in the world, and is a large exporter of oil(????).

I do know a little bit about Uruguay, though...principal language is Spanish, population is about 3 million people, warm climate (my roommate found the cold climate here in Minnesota to be a bit of a shock to her system!), population is mostly Catholic, most of them despise president Bush, and the capital is Montevideo.

Also, with a lot of these cultures (particularly in Cuba), when it comes to drum music and rhythms, one can hear a time-keeping rhythm and automatically know the dance beat to it.

So, in truth, I don't know much. But I do know a bit, and you'd better believe I'd research the hell out of any one of those countries if I was ever going to go there.

Answer 3

I know the history, geography, politics, languages, arts, and much more about Argentina and Brazil. About Chile or Venezuela, I know less. I have the outline of South America tattooed on my hip...so yes, I like S. American countries. Most Americans know almost nothing about those countries, aside from a few stereotypes. For example, they know the tango is a latin dance, some of those people will know its from Argentina, almost none of them will know it was learned by the upperclass Argentines (and the European workers) in the brothels of Buenos Aires. Other examples might include Americans not knowing that Chile has a female president or that in Venezuela, gas is kept around 10-15 cents per gallon for its citizens or even that Brazil comes from the reddish Brazilwood harvested from Brazil and that the name for Brazilians in Portuguese (yes, they speak Portuguese and not Spanish) is brasileiros. The suffix -eiro denotes profession, thus were the names of those who harvested the Brazilwood back in the 1500's.

Answer 4

I was an aide to a sixth grade student last year in school and in Social Studies they spent about two weeks on Central America and two weeks on South America. There was so much information but it had to be condensed. In one school year the Social Studies teacher was expected to cover the entire world, every continent, every country.

I totally respect your question and your reason for asking it. I agree with you. I do NOT hate my country, I love my country, but I am so disgusted and ashamed at the rampant ignorance of the people of our country. The arrogance and the complete audacity of truly believing that this little country is the be-all and end-all in the world infuriates and embarrasses me. I don't know what else to say.

Answer 5

Now I guess you realised how stupid are people from United States. They almost ask for us, Latin Americans, to hate them. I am Brazilian, and believe or not, I have been in San Isidro, it is great Buenos Aires.

Answer 6

I do know there is nothing wrong with the countries you mention, althought as an American [born and breed] I along with millions have problems with our government allowing the over flow of imigrants that seek only to cripple our economy.
The question is.....without the muscle of the USA, where will you be? If Russia and China invaded the southern parts of the pacific like say Argentina, are they capable of defending themselves? NO.
The USA is the reason we on the pacific are still on the pacific and you are safe from invasion from the foreign powers who wish and secretly invade you anyways.
Be alittle more happy we are here....we can own any country we wish. be happy we are here.

Answer 7

Pardon transvania please. that person apparently believed all of the history lessons they received while growing up. I would also assume they are fond of fox news and apparently they were breast fed many fascists views and quite possibly are also fans of the theory of manifest destiny...which many US citizens are spoon fed with throughout their lives...

Answer 8

i know brazil has some very beautiful looking people esp the women!!

Answer 9

People there live forever with their parents and even go on honeymoon with their mothers in tow.

Answer 10

Places I would not want to live or visit