With Argentina being the theme country at the International Kolkata Book Fair, which concludes today, the ambassador of Argentina, Mariano Agustin Caucino, sat down for a chat with t2 on the sidelines of a reception, hosted at Hyatt Regency Kolkata by Bluechip Education Foundation and Bee Books. Maradona and Messi to Tagore and Ocampo, the conversation touched several points of the Bengal-Argentina connect.

Is it true that Argentina used to have a consulate in Calcutta in the 1920s?

It is. I don’t exactly know the date, but what I can tell you is that the first official presence of Argentina in India was in Calcutta, because as you know, before 1911 Calcutta was the capital of British India. It was a consulate because there were no embassies here. After you got Independence in 1947, Argentina recognised India, and in 1950, the embassy was established in Delhi. It was one of the first Latin American embassies in Delhi, along with Brazil and Mexico. Now we also have a consulate general in Mumbai.

Is this your first visit to Calcutta?

No, I have been here in December 2024. This is my second visit. I have been in India for a year and a half, and I think this is my 43rd trip to India and in the other countries that I serve. I think I have been to more or less 10 states in the country.

Did you spot the Diego Maradona statue on your way back to the airport last time? Now there is one more of Lionel Messi. Have you seen either?

No, I didn’t. I saw the Messi one on the Internet.

The Messi statue is supposed to be the biggest of his anywhere in the world. When you first heard about such a statue being built in Calcutta, did it come as a surprise, or the fact that Argentina has such a big following in Calcutta?

No. In fact, I knew about that even before being an ambassador. There were comments in the media in Argentina about this fanaticism about Maradona, about Argentine football and about Messi in this part of the country, and also in Kerala, and even in Bangladesh.

Since you are aware of there being such great following of Argentine football here, do you plan to cash in on that in terms of tourism, like promote a soccer trail covering may be the house of Maradona, his childhood club and so on?

We hope we could do more promotion of Argentine tourism in this part of India. We are trying to do it all around the country. Now, soon there will be some gatherings in Delhi and Mumbai for Indian travel agencies promoting Argentine tourism. Argentina has a variety of climates and very important tourist offerings. We have, for example, the Iguazu Falls, a beautiful tropical place. We also have Patagonia (a vast, wild geographical region at the southern tip of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile, known for dramatic landscapes like glaciers, mountains, and steppes). We have access to Antarctica. We have the Andes. And we have wine routes. And also the city of Buenos Aires, which is maybe the most important city in the southern hemisphere. It’s a beautiful, European-style city in South America, probably the best.

The country is huge. It’s almost as big as India. If you fly from north to south, it will take five hours. India is the seventh largest country in the world, Argentina is the eighth. The difference is that you have 1.5 billion people here while we have just 50 million people. The two economies are very complementary. For example, in agriculture, Argentina is the top provider of edible oil to India — No. 1 in soybean and No. 2 in sunflower oil.

The average Calcuttan knows a lot about football in Argentina but not so much about the country.

Ambassador Mariano Agusto Caucino looks at a picture of Diego Maradona's house at an exhibition on the sidelines of the reception at Hyatt Regency

Argentina is a country mainly of immigrants. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Argentina attracted more immigrants, in relative terms, than the US. If you go to Argentina, you will find that more or less 45 per cent of the population of Argentina is of Italian origin. That includes my family. Another 40 per cent is of Spanish origin. But then you have people from Eastern Europe, the Russian Empire, a very important Jewish community, a Muslim community, Irish people and many others. Argentina has more Italians, apart from Italy, than anywhere else in the world, more than even in the US. It was a very successful country. All of our families — my great-great-grandparents went to Argentina — because it was a successful country.

One hears there’s a Hindu Club in greater Buenos Aires which originated with labourers from Bengal and Bihar who were brought to work in South American rubber plantations.

I don’t know the details but it is true that there is a club called Hindu Club in Don Turcuato town. It’s from the time when there was a lot of British influence in Argentina, among other countries in the region. At that time, England was the most important country in the world, and India was a vital part of that.

Apparently, the Hindu Club is very good in rugby and has been winning national titles.

Yes, rugby is important in Argentina. So is golf, but football is the most important sport. We don’t have cricket or very little of it, but that is all part of the British legacy. (The Argentine Cricket Association was formed in 1913 and is an associate member of the International Cricket Council since 1974.)

Coming back to football, how do people of Argentina see Maradona, now that he’s gone?

Maradona is a very loved person in Argentina. He gave a lot of satisfaction to the Argentine people, to the world, I’d say. Unfortunately, he got some problems and died quite young. And today, Argentine people love Messi who is a different kind of personality — a family man — and people respect and love him very much.

Calcutta used to be known to the Latin American world as the city of Madre Teresa.

The last time I was here, I went to visit Mother Teresa’s house. I hope I can go again. My wife was there recently. The place is an inspiration for service to mankind.

How much has the perception of Calcutta changed from being the city of Mother Teresa, an identity that carries images of poverty and impoverishment?

I think the image of India in Argentina is of a country that has grown in the last 20 years at seven or eight per cent a year. You are becoming the fourth largest economy and will be the third largest economy soon, maybe at the end of this decade. So I think that’s the image of a country that is doing very well ever since it opened to the free market economy.

Do you plan to visit Calcutta during the World Cup? If you do, you will see lots of Argentina flags in the streets.

The tournament begins in June. Yeah, it’s a good idea. We will try. I didn’t come here when Messi was here, but I received him in Delhi. There were so many people in the Argentina jersey! Then we went with him to a meeting he had with some people in the community and we shared some moments. The visit was not organised by the Argentine government. But still, he’s an important person. So we went to the airport.

Did that visit get a lot of media attention back home?

Of course, there is (media attention) wherever Messi goes, especially when he visits the world’s most populated country. This is not one more country in the world, it’s one of the largest countries in terms of population.

There is a lot of embarrassment in the city about the chaos that happened during Messi’s trip. How was the incident reported in Argentina?

There was a concern on the first day whether the visit was evolving with problems, but after that he flew to Hyderabad and Mumbai, and everything was okay there. And then he came to Delhi, where too everything went smoothly.

You took a stroll around the Book Fair today. How was the experience?

We are very grateful for Argentina being the invited country for the first time. It makes you happy when you see your country represented with a huge pavilion.

Your stall in the fair has a photograph of the writer Victoria Ocampo and mentions her friendship with Tagore.

Yes, I visited Tagore House during my last visit. We want to showcase Tagore’s trip to Argentina (in 1924). We hope they can provide us space. We have some documents and materials which we plan to exhibit.