Argentine's change of wealth started with the change of culture.

The Peronists allowed a huge wave of Southern Italians in during the 50s and 60s to work in the docks. Mafia culture and lazy culture was rife. This then fed into the low grade politicians they started to produce. The Peronists gained with the huge swathe of Italian dock workers voting for them, with increasingly huge breeding patterns with their families. Before they arrived, the Argentines had accumulated their wealthy status of "Fourth Richest in the World" by working hard and saving. There used to be a saying back then "As rich as an Argentine". But the Southern Italian culture took over the capital Buenos Aires. That original Argentine culture became the minority.

It is an amazing story, and very similar to the old anecdote of family wealth. "The grandad made it. The son preserved it. The grandson blew it". Classic case, writ large.