How has the Andinia conspiracy theory historically influenced antisemitic sentiment in Argentina?
Executive summary
The Andinia conspiracy — the long-discredited claim that Jews aim to create a second Jewish state in Patagonia — has served as a recurring rhetorical engine for Argentine antisemitism: born from misread migrations and early Zionist proposals, weaponized by the military and far right in the 20th century, and resurfacing in contemporary crises to scapegoat Jewish people and Israelis [1] [2] [3]. Its influence is visible in state repression, policing and intelligence operations, episodes of street violence and discrimination, and modern political and online amplification that revives old tropes during events like the Patagonia wildfires [1] [4] [5] [3].
1. Origins: migration, rumor and a convenient myth
What became the Andinia narrative grew out of real Jewish migration to Argentina and nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century proposals—now historical footnotes—about Jewish agricultural settlements, but the conspiracy transformed those facts into a sinister plot alleging an intent to seize Patagonia and establish a Jewish polity, a claim scholars and community leaders characterize as baseless [1] [2] [4].
2. Military adoption: from leaflet to interrogation
The myth moved from fringe pamphlets into the ranks of the armed forces in the late 20th century: a 1971 leaflet circulated among officers under the name “Plan Andinia,” and during the 1976–1983 dictatorship some military sections treated the idea as real, interrogating and torturing Jewish prisoners for supposed knowledge of preparations for an Israeli invasion of southern Argentina [2] [1] [6]. Jacobo Timerman’s memoir documents interrogations about the Plan Andinia, illustrating how the fantasy was operationalized by state repression [1] [5].
3. Policing, infiltration and surveillance of Jewish life
Beyond interrogations, Argentine security services invested resources to “prove” the theory: as reporting recounts, federal police infiltrated Jewish communities in search of evidence, and long-term spying operations were mounted that exposed community leaders to suspicion and surveillance rather than protecting them from real threats [5] [4]. These state actions reinforced the perception that Jews were an internal enemy and normalized antisemitic suspicion inside institutions that should have been impartial [6].
4. Social effects: violence, discrimination and local scapegoating
The conspiracy fed and recycled existing antisemitic currents in Argentine society: urban pogrom-like violence in the early 20th century and later far-right campaigns set a social context in which the Andinia trope provided an explanatory villain for economic and territorial anxieties, catalyzing episodes of violence and discrimination against Jewish individuals and Israeli tourists in Patagonia and other regions [4] [5]. Activists in places such as Bariloche have even called for boycotts of Israeli visitors, and violent assaults linked to Andinia-era logic occurred in the 2010s, demonstrating that the myth has concrete, harmful consequences on the ground [5].
5. Cultural persistence: media, extremists and periodic resurgences
Although mainstream politicians generally did not adopt the theory historically, neo‑Nazi and extreme-right media repeatedly republished versions of the Plan in the 1970s and beyond, while contemporary social media and some public figures have recycled the story in moments of crisis, showing how such conspiracies persist and mutate; recent wildfire conspiracy claims explicitly invoked Andinia-style rhetoric and were condemned by Jewish leaders and anti‑disinformation organizations as baseless and dangerous [1] [7] [3].
6. Contemporary politics and the danger of revival
The Andinia myth’s ability to resurface — amplified by influencers, a retired general, and online communities during the 2026 Patagonia fires — shows its utility for political scapegoating: accusations against “Israeli tourists” or isolated Israelis have been called irresponsible by DAIA and condemned by advocacy groups as classic antisemitic disinformation, illustrating how the trope is repurposed to delegitimize Jewish Argentines and to inflame public sentiment during crises [7] [3] [8].
7. Conclusion: lasting imprint, persistent threat
Historically the Andinia conspiracy has done real work: it helped justify state surveillance and torture, fed street-level discrimination and violence, and created a durable narrative framework for blaming Jews for broader social ills; while debunked by historians and community leaders, its periodic revivals show that debunking alone has not eradicated its social potency or the institutional prejudices that allowed it to take hold [1] [4] [5].