Cristina

Yesterday, while reading the newspaper, I came across something that struck me as odd. The newspaper kept referring to the president, who happens to be a woman, as Cristina. They used only her first name never her last and never referred to her a "presidenta". It was just Christina. I was curious to find out if it was because she is a woman or if there was more to the story- so I asked. The answer that I received initially is " oh, we consider her to be one of us. We are very informal so we call her by her first name. Oh really? This coming from a people that have a whole special tense for formality. After digging deeper, I discovered what is more likely the truth. There seems to be a lack of respect for people in office and the police. And given the history of this country, that is probably a good reason. There were military dictators who used the police as there thugs. This may also explain why people are more likely to stick together here because they had to band together to deal with the government and police.