In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca
seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President
Julio Argentino Roca. Among sports fans, Boca is best known for being the home of the world-renowned
football club
Boca Juniors. The club plays its home matches in Estadio Alberto J. Armando, popularly known as
La Bombonera (Spanish for "the bonbon box"). La Boca was home to the
garra, or a fighting spirit that was represented in the hard working, no nonsense people of the barrio and reflected by the most popular club Boca Juniors on the pitch. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, La Boca's citizenry was characterized for rejecting “art for arts sake” and adopting a workmanlike attitude to work and life, in contrast to the richer citizens to the north, often represented through their club
River Plate. In 1907, La Boca became its own micronational republic. Their first attempt was short-lived, but two later attempts were more successful. The former lasted from 1923 to 1972 and the latter was established since 1986. Republic graffiti was still present in the barrio. Another of Argentina's most popular clubs,
River Plate, originally started in the La Boca. However, in 1938 the club relocated to the Núñez neighborhood on the northern edge of the city and became more identifiable with the Buenos Aires elite than the lower class citizens of La Boca. The land in and around La Boca was often controlled by the state or wealthy corporations in the first half of the 20th century, due to its location near the docks, making soccer pitches difficult to obtain for citizens. La Boca is a popular destination for
tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the
Caminito, where
tango dancers perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. Other attractions include the La Ribera theatre, many
tango music clubs, and Italian
taverns. The area visited by tourists is only a few blocks long and has been built up for tourism very actively over the last few years, with many market stalls and restaurants catering to tourists. Outside this tourist area, it is a fairly poor neighborhood that has had many regular occurrences of petty crimes reported. It has also been a centre for radical politics, having elected the first
socialist member of the Argentine Congress (
Alfredo Palacios in 1935) and was home to many demonstrations during the
crisis of 2001. As of 2016, the health of over 1,000 La Boca citizens is threatened by the pollution of the Matanza-Riachuelo River (which contains high levels of
arsenic and
lead, due to centuries of unrestrained pollution). == Gallery ==