Is there animosity between Mexicans and Argentinians? I noticed that ag brought up the stereotype I've heard from some Mexican Americans I know that Argentinians are snooty, particularly people from Buenos Aires.
I don't really know about any real animosity apart from the usual competition where people get into fights claiming their country is better, something which as far as I know happens everywhere.
The stereotype about argies is pretty well known and obviously some people do get snooty (upper middle class and rich argies that went to live to Miami are particularly annoying which is another reason why I hate Miami
). But a stereotype is just that, a stereotype. The supposed overwhelming whiteness and European roots which in my opinion are exaggerations has made some people feel superior but I have traveled extensively all over the American continent (if I exclude the Caribbean I have visited every American country except Canada, El Salvador and Ecuador and while I went to the US once I mostly stayed just in Miami for a day or so) and I have found that white chileans, white Uruguayans and white Brazilians to just name a few had pretty much the same attitudes, some fit a stereotype but the vast majority does not and I think it's the same thing with Argentina.
But stereotypes work like that, you can meet hundreds of people that prove it wrong but the moment you see a guy who fits, you immediately remember the stereotype and say "well, then it is true" and that helps perpetuate it.
I usually tend to avoid Argentines when I'm on a trip because when I travel the last thing I want is to socialize with people that remind me of home (I think they are distracting when I'm trying to understand a different culture) so I don't exactly know how much arrogance or whatever they exude, but inside the country the view is very different.
People living here like to complain about everything and if you listened exclusively to the media you would think this is the worst country in the world. I have to tell friends every now and then that we are not Somalia, in fact we are better off that some other Latin American countries. People like to complain (to name one example) about the subway and how during rush hour you have to travel like you are in a can of sardines, well I've been to the London subway and the Paris subway and maybe I got particularly bad days but the amount of people was basically the same as here and I traveled like crap. Watching Tokyo subway videos isn't also very reassuring. Yes, our subway isn't very good especially because it's old and there is little ventilation in some stations, but rush hour is rush hour.
We probably have 2 ways of looking at things, either we are the best of the world when something goes well, or we are the worst when something goes bad, there is no middle ground. Maybe argie emigrants fall into the first category, but for sure people living inside the country fall into the second one.
The anti porteņo sentiment that ag mentions is also not limited to foreigners. people outside the city and the metropolitan area in the province also think we are stuck up and believers that we are the center of the world just as porteņos think that if it weren't for the national government giving them money the other provinces would completely collapse.
Of course (and now speaking as a porteņo nationalist
) lots of people from the other provinces have to come at least once in their lifetimes to the city for one thing or the other while the amount of people in the city that have to travel to other provinces is quite negligible. Unless I'm doing it because I want to I don't think I ever had to step outside the city boundaries and hell I think I could even live a complete normal life even if I'm restricted to traveling to 3 or 4 neighbourhoods
During the last big economic crisis in Argentina the sheer amount of Schadenfreude I heard expressed by educated Latin Americans of all stripes was really staggering.
Yeah, I remember it well, not just from other Latin Americans but from European countries and the US. Some seemed happy we were having the crisis and other countries that treated us like we had turned into the Democratic republic of the Congo or something. I remember we spent the whole year of 2002 humiliating ourselves to the IMF to get a loan or something while they basically told us how much crap we were. Which explains in part why a lot of Argentines (especially those who approve of Cristina) smirk every time the economic crisis is Europe and the US or the Chilean student protests get on the news while we remain relatively stable.
As ag says, I think that the most adamant at criticising others and mentioning stereotypes are the mostly middle class/rich educated people and even then I don't think they are the majority. I frankly believe that rejoicing in other people's misfortunes is a pathetic sentiment whether someone else do it to us or we do it to others.
What led to Buenos Aires developing that kind of reputation? Also the city has been a major center for immigration from Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Chile in recent years, so isn't that sentiment changing somewhat?
It probably dates back to the early 20th century when we were an extremely wealthy country with lots of European immigration. I just guess that part of the mentality of feeling superior to others that was rampant at the time just stuck in some people's minds despite the country going downward for most if not all of the 20th century.
Though for the record I do believe that political and social animosity between South American (or well, Latin American) countries is at a record low. Real political disputes are rare nowadays except a few exceptions like Venezuela and Colombia (though even there, I think the chances of a conflict are very slim). A war between Chile and Argentina has been a pretty important concern just a couple of decades ago, while now it's downright insane. The continent is much more stable than what it was years ago (even in the 90's). I don't really need to remind anyone I guess that Peru and Ecuador were at war just 16 years ago.
Petty bullcrap conflicts erupt every once in a while (like for instance the conflict between Uruguay and Argentina over the pulp mill on the Uruguay river) but aren't petty conflicts pretty common around the world?
As for, what gave BA such a repuation... Well, the general opinion is, porteņos have always behaved as if they were the only white people around (at least when dealing w/ other Latin Americans). And they can, indeed, be quite upfront about that - they are, generally, quite an upfront sort of people. It's enough that Mexicans are already quite insecure in their national pride (unlike Argentinians), so being told they are sh**t by fellow Latin Americans doesn't go down well (the rest of Lat Am tends to acknowledge Mexican cultural supremacy 
) )
Some people do behave like that, but the reality is that the "hubris" we had, pretty much took a nosedive after the 2001 crisis, the feeling that we were an extension of Europe were a lot more common during the "economic bonanza" of the 90's. The stereotype continues though.
Wealthy, educated and white people in Latin America tend to consider themselves better than others much more so than people from other economic status and backgrounds. I also see that whenever a country is doing well economically their arrogance increases and maybe I'm going to stereotype a bit but some Chilean and Brazilian people I have met recently are starting to behave the way lots of people accuse argies of behaving. In a snooty, arrogant way thinking their countries are already part of the 1st world, something that was hilarious when we behaved like that and it's equally hilarious now.
I still think all of this is overblown and that stereotypes are exactly that, be it the arrogant Argentines, the lazy Mexicans, the ignorant Americans, the 24/7 Brazilian carnival dancers, etc.
Despite the flaws I like this continent more than any other and I'm happy to be living here
Sorry for the long post
