[Tango-L] Debacle of the 2011 Metropolitan Championships in Buenos Aires: Part 1 - The Setup

[Shahrukh Merchant]

In the last few years, the Buenos Aires Government, which sponsors the 
Annual Tango Festival and the Mundial (World Tango Championships) has 
also authorized regional championships with the winners getting seeded 
directly into the semi-finals of the World Championships. The regions 
now include various countries with a strong Tango presence, as well as 
various regions of Argentina, and the city of Buenos Aires, which is 
considered its own region for this purpose. The so-called 
"Metropolitan(o)" Championship is the championship of the Buenos Aires 
"region." Needless to say, it is the most prestigious of all the 
regions, and winning or placing high in the Metropolitano is second only 
to doing so in the Mundial (World Championships). There is no 
National-level competition in Argentina.

 From 2009 to 2011, the rules for who was qualified to participate in 
the Metropolitan got progressively tighter to limit participation in the 
Buenos Aires Metropolitan (but not in the Mundial, which of course is 
open to anyone in the world) to bona fide residents of Buenos Aires and, 
somewhat controversially in 2011, to Argentine citizens only.

I have not seen the pertinent rules compared side-by-side anywhere, and 
many articles on the subject have mis-stated what the changes really 
are, so here they are for 2009, 2010 and 2011 (capitalized text 
highlights material differences between the years).[1.1][1.2][1.3]

2009: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists OF DIFFERENT SEXES, 
over 18 years at the time of their participation, and at least one of 
the participants must be a native, or have a place of residence, in the 
Capital Federal part of Buenos Aires [excludes outer suburbs]. Both 
participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their DNI, CI, LE 
or Passport to verify their identities.

2010: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists OR PROFESSIONALS, over 
18 years at the time of their participation, and at least one of the 
participants must be a native, or DEMONSTRABLY have a place of residence 
FOR A PERIOD OF AT LEAST 3 YEARS in the Capital Federal part of Buenos 
Aires. Both participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their 
DNI, CI, LE or Passport to verify their identities.

2011: Couples must be made up of tango hobbyists AND/OR PROFESSIONALS, 
OF ARGENTINE NATIONALITY, over 18 years at the time of their 
participation, and at least one of the participants must be a native of 
the Capital Federal part of Buenos Aires OR CERTIFY WITH HIS ID CARD A 
PLACE OF RESIDENCE IN THE CITY [OF BUENOS AIRES] FOR AT LEAST 2 YEARS. 
Both participants must present, at the time of enrollment, their DNI, 
CI, LE or Passport to verify their identities, THEIR PLACES OF BIRTH AND 
THEIR PLACES OF RESIDENCE.

So in 2009, in theory a tourist in Buenos Aires who had rented an 
apartment for a month could qualify, and could even dance with someone 
who was not living in Buenos Aires at all, but just flew down for the event.

In 2010, at least one person in the partnership had to show a place of 
residence in Buenos Aires for three years (but apparently did not have 
to be a legal resident in terms of his or her immigration status--there 
are any number of expats, Tango dancers or otherwise, living in Buenos 
Aires on this basis). This rules out the casual tourist, but allowed the 
expat "retiree" or "long-term tourist" to participate, and potentially 
still with a "transient" visitor as a partner.

In 2011, BOTH had to be Argentine nationals, and although the time to 
prove residency for at least one of the partnership was reduced from 
three years to two years, this was now LEGAL residency (not just based 
on physical presence or having an apartment lease or utility bill in 
your name), since your official national ID had to show this address as 
well. The second person still did not have to live in Argentina at all, 
but now did need to have Argentine citizenship.

Presumably, this was done to tighten up on the idea of the Metropolitan 
being a regional qualifying event for the Mundial and to ensure that 
those purporting to be representatives of Buenos Aires were actually 
from there or resident there (one of them anyway). This is probably not 
much different than the rules that many qualifying sporting events have, 
where you represent your state (or province or region) within your 
country and then your country in a World Championship or Olympics, and 
there are probably very strict affiliation rules on how you qualify at 
each level, which no doubt include citizenship and/or residency 
requirements in most cases.

Two things, however, made this change problematic for some people: One 
was that it WAS a change, over a relatively short time, and one that 
resulted in excluding people who were explicitly permitted just the year 
before. The second was the clause that insisted on Argentine 
citizenship, which to some people seemed unnecessarily nationalistic 
"for a city historically made up of immigrants." Probably also, to some 
people, Tango is still a hobby/cultural movement/artistic endeavour with 
relatively modest sums of money involved (compared to mainstream 
sporting events), so perhaps a more relaxed attitude towards qualifying 
was expected.


Next: Part 2 - The Legal Challenge


REFERENCES

[1.1] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2009, 
http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato09/web/index.php/es/tango/rules.html

[1.2] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2010, 
http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato10/web/es/tango/rules.html

[1.3] Reglamento del Campeonato de Baile de la Ciudad 2011, 
http://www.tangobuenosaires.gob.ar/campeonato11/web/es/tango/reglamento.html