Argentina, the New Nigeria

No, it’s not because the land of the Pampas looks to become an energy giant as it taps the world’s third-largest shale gas reserves. Rather, Argentina is becoming the victimizer of internet-gullible Westerners. PRI’s “The World” recently aired a story on foreign nationals recently arrested in Argentina for trafficking cocaine. Says The World anchor Marco Werman: “The common thread was love online.”

They certainly don’t fit the profile. Sharon Armstrong, a former Maori Language Commission deputy chief executive from New Zealand, got caught at Buenos Aires’ international airport last April with 5 kilos of cocaine in her luggage. According to NZ Wire she was “fooled by a fictitious internet lover.”

Then there’s Paul Frampton, an Oxford-trained physicist who holds a prestigious chair at UNC-Chapel Hill. In pursuit of his “model girlfriend” Frampton was led on a whirlwind trip across South America, ultimately winding up at the Buenos Aires airport on January 23 with two kilos of cocaine sewn into the side of his luggage.  An intriguing article on Frampton in the Charlotte Observer seems to confirm one stereotype—academics do evidently lack common sense—while defying another—this scientist does have a sense of humor. He reportedly told his dean at UNC that the chances of him being back in time to teach in the fall are “99.995 percent.”

Adding insult to injury, the Kiwi and the professor don’t seem to have much support back home. A friend of Armstrong’s said: “I can’t say she feels she’s got New Zealand behind her. In fact, she’ll be feeling very much on her own trying to cope with this very tough situation.” Professor Frampton faults UNC: “The university has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to help me. You would expect a university of that caliber would do everything possible to get me out of prison.” Ouch.