Argentine Concordat as an International Agreement Regulating the Law of Patronage

In the history of relations between the Argentinean government and the Holy See, two ideas are permanently intertwined: signing the Concordat and defending national patronage. The changes that occurred in the 1960s indicated that exercising the right of patronage, based on the principles outlined in the Constitution, was impossible, and the peaceful establishment of the principles of bilateral relations could only be indicated through an international agreement. The Concordat signed by Argentina in 1966 removed the national patronage, but the changes to the content of the Constitution were introduced only in 1994. The aim of the study is to show the concordat agreement concluded in 1966 by Argentina with the Holy See as an example of an international agreement. The main focus is the presentation of concordat standards for the institution of patronage. Due to the subject and purpose of the study, the work uses methods typical of social sciences in the legal science discipline. The dogmatic-legal method is the basis for consideration of the Concordat as a source of Argentine law, and as an auxiliary method, the historical-legal method was used to show the historical background of the presented issue.

Latin America: The Region without Catalonia

The aim of this article is to analyse the issue of “weak separatism” in Latin America as well as to give an answer to the question why there are no significant separatist movements in this region. The authors provide the definitions of separatism and secessionism as well as an explanation of these phenomena. Moreover, they present an overview of historical and contemporary separatist movements in Latin America. Based on Horowitz’s theory of ethnic separatism, the authors attempt to analyse the separatist movement “The South is My Country” in Brazil and compare it with separatism in Catalonia in Spain, where a referendum on independence from Spain was held in 2017, serving as an impetus for a similar referendum that took place in the South of Brazil. In spite of similar goals of these two separatist movements, the authors argue that there are significant differences in their nature, which are determined by the history and culture of the respective countries.

Silent Conflict in High-profile Cities. Latin America and Beyond

This anthropological essay provides a meditation on mass tourism while analysing the mechanisms of conflict between the needs of mass tourism and the local urban environment, extraterritorial spaces that fit into the universal heritage of humanity. Historical districts/ entertainment districts in capital cities are discussed as extraterritorial areas treated as ambivalent, bypassed, business bases. The tourists themselves constitute thoroughly ambivalent figures as tame strangers, treated simultaneously as a potential source of maximum earnings and intruders.

Forty-Four Years of Polish Archaeoastronomical Research in Latin America

Since the late 1980s, there has been a considerable growth in the numer of Polish contributions to the Latin American archaeoastronomy. Much of this interest in archaeoastronomy is an outcome of the scientific activities of Professor Andrzej Wiercinski who in the 1970s was fascinated with the claims for sophisticated Megalithic astronomy advocated by early British archaeoastronomers. The paper provides a brief description of the greatest Polish achievements in the field of Latin American archaeoastronomy.

The Problem of Organized Crime in the South American Tri-Border Area: Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina

The paper shows mechanisms and manifestations of the challenges for the security in the South American Tri-Border Area (Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina). It analyses the background of the activity of chosen organized crime and terrorist groups in this region. The article refers to some social and economic conditions for the spread of violence and illegal business in the area. It is focused on the most important dimensions of these problems and on the strategy implemented by South American governments to fight and prevent organized crime. The paper shows how the security forces deal with the threat and evaluate the impact of these efforts.

The End of the Myth of the Cuban Exile? Current Trends in Cuban Emigration

Cuban migrants are considered as and referred to as exiles. However, in the face of the economic transformations in Cuba, as well as the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, it has become necessary to revise the epistemological and semiotic foundations of this phenomenon. The current migratory trends among the Cubans do not meet the definition of exiles. Thus, the title of this article reflects the research assumption and the principal aim that the current circumstances in Cuba, as well as the migratory flows of Cubans mark the decline of the myth of the Cuban exile; a myth built by the media.

Between Autonomy and Independence. The Democratisation of the Armed Forces in Latin America in the Twenty-First Century

The aim of this article is to analyse the new forms of militarism as well as the position and the role of the armed forces in Latin American political systems in the twenty-first century. The first part analyses two selected forms of military participation in politics: the participation of former servicemembers in presidential elections and their performance as presidents, and the militarisation of political parties. The second part of the article focuses on the issue of contemporary civil-military relations in Latin America, discussing the problems associated with the establishment of democratic control over the armed forces, the reform of the Ministries of Defense and the redefinition of the functions of the army.

Proclamation of Ferdinand VI in Cusco (23 September 1747): Art and Politics

The article analyses the royal proclamation of Ferdinand VI in Cusco (Peru) which took place on 23 September 1747, on the birthday of the king. A reconstruction of the celebration was possible thanks to two sources: the city chronicle written in the mid-eighteenth century by Diego de Esquivel y Navía and an occasional print containing a description of the ceremony by José Antonio Santander (1748). The article discusses three aspects of the presented celebrations. First of all, it presents the general context, i.e. the problem of festival celebrations related to the royal family as a part of the Spanish crown policy. Secondly, it details artistic issues related to the celebrations. It includes a description of the artistic setting with the features of occasional architecture and ephemeral painting. Finally, the article examines the local, social and political contexts of the celebrations, read as a manifestation of the city’s emancipation efforts based on the emphasis of Cusco’s antiquity and its rich imperial tradition in the Pre-Hispanic period.

Towards Homes and Graves. About the Returns, Desaparecidos and Exhumation Challenges in Peru at the End of the Twentieth Century

The article concerns the wartime history of Peru and examines both topdown and bottom-up practices of accounting for the internal conflict of 1980–2000, which were initiated in the background of the warfare. The aim of the article is to discuss the connections I observed between the phenomena referred to in the title: return migrations of the inhabitants of the central-southern province, their search for the victims of forced disappearances, as well as the exhumation challenges emerging since the beginning of the war. In other words, the text constitutes an attempt to contextualise the above-mentioned issues given competing versions of memory about political violence in the Andes, with particular focus on their top-down determinants in the Fujimorism era.