As such, some sort of commemoration in Mendoza of the Conquest of the Desert is plausible. I stand corrected, though like you I didn’t find any official holiday noted.

When I was working in Salta, far from Patagonia, I heard a story about the Conquest of the Desert from a fellow expat who had married an Argentine. Don’t know if that tale was from history taught in school, or a tale handed down. It wouldn’t surprise me that your wife had also heard stories about the Conquest of the Desert- perhaps stories handed down from participants, given the proximity of Mendoza to the area in question.

Maybe they’ve seen what the Western world has been coming to and took the last available off-ramp.
_________

Grim’s article linked to an article in Jacobin: The Face of Voter Disaffection in Argentina Is an Anarcho-Capitalist With Sideburns

Reminds me of the Babylon Bee article:

Ted Cruz Grows Out Mutton Chops In Preparation For Civil War.

(“Mutton chops” = connected sideburns and mustache, or a full beard minus the goatee)

“Americans are propagandized to believe that everyone south of our borders is “brown/native” but this isn’t actually correct.” – pkudude99

I’m sorry that my comment gave that impression. Italians, Spaniards, Germans, French, and other Europeans are the main “white” groups represented in Argentina today. And you’re correct that the Mestizo population is a minority.

However, some gene studies show that Amerindian DNA is found in 27.7% of the population and 63.3%
have European DNA.
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_groups_of_Argentina#Ethnic_groups
also:
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-ethnic-composition-of-argentina.html

I would call the immigrant population mostly Mediterranean in origin with smaller numbers of northern Europeans. Along with some mixing of the earliest immigrants with the native population.

Javier Gerardo Milei:
Ethnicity: Argentinian [Italian, possibly Dalmatian/Croatian, and other] He certainly looks Italian to me.

There’s a saying in South America that the farther south you go, the whiter it gets.

Another variation of this is the Argentine saying that “South America begins north of Córdoba.” (city in northern Argentina).

My wife lived in Mendoza in northwestern Argentina for a couple of years about 30 years ago. She has told me that there was a local holiday celebrated annually to commemorate the extermination of the last native person.

My initial guess is that she may have been referring to the Conquest of the Desert, where Argentine troops conquered the lands south of Buenos Aires circa 1870-1880.. As Mendoza was founded in the 1500s, the area around Mendoza wasn’t associated with the Conquest of the Desert. Moreover, Jesuits had great influence in 17th and 18th century Mendoza. Jesuits were not the Indian-killing type. Look at their missions in Paraguay. So, I don’t know what your wife was referring to.

Americans are propagandized to believe that everyone south of our borders is “brown/native” but this isn’t actually correct. There’s a saying in South America that the farther south you go, the whiter it gets. The entire countires of Chile and Uruguay are both listed as over 90% white, as are the 2 southernmost states of Brazil.

According to a 2019 study by a Mexican university, Argentina’s demographics are:

89% White
7% Mixed (White/Native)
4% Asian

My wife lived in Mendoza in northwestern Argentina for a couple of years about 30 years ago. She has told me that there was a local holiday celebrated annually to commemorate the extermination of the last native person. I don’t know if that’s still celebrated, times being as they are, but then again, it’s foreign country and they do things differently there, so anything’s possible.