On the tenth anniversary of his death, Hannah Vinter looks at the life of Dr René Favaloro, the first doctor in the world to successfully perform a cardiac-bypass, who took his own life with a shot through the heart.

Luján zoo provides visitors the opportunity intimately interact with its animals. But it has been slammed as one of the worst zoos in Argentina, an example of how zoos exploit animals for commercial gain.

“The government will not be closing El Borda. You don’t have anything to write about.” Well, the government may not be closing the hospital any time soon, but there is plenty to write about. El Borda has been mired in controversy and concern since the government announced two years ago that there were plans to close the largest and most famous psychiatric hospital in Argentina.

“The poor man has to disappear. There is no more countryside. It’s all private neighbourhoods. All private neighbourhoods.” They are the words of Sara Espinosa, 94, who lives in Punta Canal in the town of Tigre, just metres away from the waters of Canal Villanueva. Despite living here for more than half a century, in the past few years she has found herself increasingly isolated from the world beyond her home thanks to fences and a wall of mud built around it by real estate giant EIDICO.

A country with such a large territory like Argentina has always needed a reliable transport mode to connect its regions and different provinces. The booming railway network once boasted 47,000km of track, but mismanagement has led to the decline of what was the world’s tenth largest railway network, leaving many scars in the country’s demography.

Entering the IMPA factory, I realise why it is particularly appreciated by directors and photographers. There is something magic about the place. It is not just the rays of light coming through the windows, but the dozens of machines, originally used to transform aluminium, that occupy all three floors of the factory. They seem to have a story to tell. It is also curious how such a large surface is only occupied by 60 workers.

Tourists have long felt the pull of Argentina’s stunning landscapes, vibrant culture and sumptuous gastronomy. However, as demand soars for a low cost tummy tuck or affordable fertility treatment, a new attraction is drawing scores of international visitors to the country: the surgeon’s knife. Reports show that the number of patients from the US flying to Argentina for medical procedures has increased by 75% in the last 12 months.

The urban conurbation of Gran Buenos Aires is home to a third of Argentina’s population, with some 13 million citizens living in the sprawling metropolis. A significant proportion of these currently have limited or no access to formal housing. They live either on the streets of Buenos Aires or in informal shanty towns, known as villas miserias. There are over 1,000 villas in the conurbation, housing nearly 700,000 citizens according to recent estimates.

“Crime is like fashion. It experiences trends which catch on quickly and which move faster than the police, the government or the state. Secuestros virtuales (fake kidnappings) are the ‘hottest new craze’ on the Argentine crime scene.” Ex-Chief Inspector of the Buenos Aires Police, Luis Vicat, describes the rapid rate at which this criminal phenomenon is sweeping the city.

On 9th October, Pablo Martín Gómez was stopped at traffic lights on the way to his girlfriend’s house in Rosario. A motorcycle pulled up alongside his vehicle and, without saying a word, one of the riders shot the driver four times. Before falling into a coma from which he would never wake up, Gomez managed to call a friend saying: “They found me. They shot me.” Though the incident occurred away from any stadium, investigators suspect that Gomez is yet another victim of the unrelenting violence that plagues Argentine football. In a country where the beautiful game is sacrosanct, the action on the pitch is all-too-frequently overshadowed by the brutal antics of the barra bravas.