Lightning Rod

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

I'm reading about a crew of young guys building reproductions of old sports cars. They've set up shop in Todd, Argentina, "located 170 kilometers from the Obelisk". Hey, I've been to Argentina but I don't remember anything about an obelisk, so I go checking. Okay, it's in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires is a big city, so it's possible that I missed it. Reading up on it in Wikipedia I was struck by how it seems to be a political lightning rod:

1936 - The obelisk was built by a German company, which completed its work in a record time of 31 days, with 157 workers.
1939 - the City Council sanctioned the demolition of the Obelisco, however, the ordinance was vetoed by the municipal executive power.
1973 - decorated as a Christmas tree.
1975 - during the Peronist government of Isabel Martínez de Perón, a ring-shaped rotating sign was hung around the obelisk, with the motto El silencio es salud (Silence is health). Although it was allegedly geared against motorists creating excessive noise, it was widely interpreted as a statement calling Argentines to refrain from expressing their political views.
1976 September - La Noche de los Lápices (The Night of the Pencils), was a series of kidnappings and forced disappearances, followed by the torture, rape, and murder of a number of young students, during the last Argentine dictatorship, also known as the National Reorganization Process.
2005 - the obelisk was covered by a giant pink condom to commemorate the World AIDS Day.
2006 - To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the La Noche de los Lápices, the monument was converted into a giant pencil.

The Obelisk is about one-half the height of the Washington Monument.

P.S. Looking through my old posts about Argentina, I found I had posted a photo of the obelisk once before.

Via Just A Car Guy