Swiss in Argentina

**Tannhauser** · 07-16-2022, 01:17 AM

Swiss Argentines are Argentine citizens of Swiss ancestry or people who emigrated from Switzerland and reside in Argentina. The Swiss Argentine community is the largest group of the Swiss diaspora in South America.

Approx. 44,000 Swiss emigrated to Argentina until 1940, who settled mainly in the provinces of Córdoba ,Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and, to a lesser extent, in Buenos Aires. In 1856, 200 families of immigrants from Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg founded Esperanza City, the forerunner of agricultural colonies in Argentina, thus kickstarting a long process of European colonization and immigration. In Río Negro, swiss settlement began in the early 19th century in the village Colonia Suiza ("Swiss Colony").

Swiss immigration to Argentina began in february 1856 when the first group with a total of 421 European immigrants arrived in Santa Fe and by june there were already established about 200 farming families, about 1400 people, of which more than 50% were French and German-speaking Swiss. The first colony founded by these Swiss settlers was called Esperanza, this being the main and largest Swiss colony in Argentina.

French-speaking Switzerland.
Many of these Franco-Swiss along with French immigrants contributed to the founding of several colonies in the province. The first agricultural and livestock production colony in Entre Ríos was founded in 1857: San José under the auspices of then President Justo José de Urquiza. Its inhabitants spoke French, Italian and/or German and some were catholic while others were protestant. Democratic coexistence rules were introduced and secret suffrage was performed for the first time in Argentina's history. Another colony was Villa Urquiza, made up of Swiss families that had Corrientes as their original destination but ended up settling in Entre Ríos.

**Jacques de Imbelloni** · 07-16-2022, 01:33 AM

Fiesta del Folkore suizo en San Jerónimo Norte, Santa Fe.

**Tannhauser** · 07-17-2022, 06:12 PM

Obera, Misiones - Immigrant Day

**Tannhauser** · 11-20-2022, 11:00 PM

Carlos "Lole" Reutemann

Carlos Alberto "Lole" Reutemann (12 April 1942 – 7 July 2021)[2] was an Argentine racing driver who raced in Formula One from 1972 to 1982, and later became a politician in his native province of Santa Fe, for the Justicialist Party, and governor of Santa Fe in Argentina.

Descended from a Swiss-German grandfather, an Argentine father and an Italian mother, Reutemann was the first successful Argentine Formula One driver to come along since the retirement of five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio in 1958. He first raced in 1965 in a Fiat saloon car.[6] After racing touring cars and Formula 2 in Argentina, he moved to Europe in 1970 to drive a Brabham for the Automobile Club of Argentina Team in the European Formula 2 series. He immediately received attention when he took out Austrian Formula One driver Jochen Rindt (that year's eventual posthumous World Champion) on the first lap of his first race at Hockenheim, but carried on to finish fourth. The next season, he finished a close second in the series to Sweden's Ronnie Peterson.

As a racing driver, Reutemann was among Formula One's leading protagonists between 1972 and 1982. He scored 12 Grand Prix wins and six pole positions. In 1981 while driving for Williams he finished second in the World Drivers' Championship by one point, having been overtaken in the last race of the season. Reutemann also finished in third overall three times for three separate teams, 1975 for Brabham, 1978 for Ferrari, and 1980 for Williams. To date, he was the last Argentine driver to win a Grand Prix.

In terms of race wins, his final Ferrari season in 1978 was his most successful with four wins, but he fell short to the consistency of the Lotus team with Mario Andretti and Ronnie Peterson and was not in championship contention to the final race. He finished third, just behind Peterson, who had died in an accident at Monza earlier that autumn. In 1981, Reutemann instead relied on consistency, but narrowly lost out to Nelson Piquet for the title.

He became the second Formula One driver after Leo Kinnunen to be at the podium of a World Rally Championship event, when he finished third in the 1980 and 1985 editions of Rally Argentina. He was also for three decades the only Formula One driver to score drivers' championship points in both F1 and WRC, until Kimi Räikkönen's eighth place at the 2010 Jordan Rally.[3]

As a popular governor and a senator, he was considered by some, on several occasions, to be a worthy candidate for President, but while he considered running for president in the 2011 Argentine general election he declined to do so.[4]

Reutemann died in a medical facility in Santa Fe, Argentina on 7 July 2021 after suffering from issues relating to a haemorrhage as well as other health issues.