Croatians in Argentina call for embassy opening in Zagreb

MADRID, 10 February 2025 (Hina) – Croatian emigrants in Argentina have intensified public pressure on the government of the South American country to open an embassy in Zagreb, as Argentina currently covers Croatia through its embassy in neighbouring Budapest.

Writer Carmen Verlichak, a member of the Argentine Academy of Sciences and Arts, published a letter on 20 January in the Argentine newspaper La Nación, calling for the establishment of an embassy in Croatia, emphasising that “the relationship between the two countries has been strong for centuries.”

Now, a group of Croatian emigrants in Argentina has joined this appeal.

In a letter published in La Nación on Monday, they expressed their support for Carmen Verlichak’s petition.

“Argentinians residing in or visiting Croatia as tourists must turn to the Argentine embassy in Budapest in the event of any difficulties,” they stated in the letter.

They highlighted that more than “half a million” people in Argentina have cultural, commercial, and tourism-related ties with “the homeland of their ancestors.”

“We believe that resolving this situation would be beneficial for both nations,” reads the letter, signed by Marta Opacak, Diana Orlov, Maria Cristina Josipovic, and Alejandro Alvarez Josipovic.

Croats began emigrating to Argentina in larger numbers after 1848, with migration increasing up until 1918. A second, significantly larger wave of emigration took place between the First and Second World Wars, from 1918 to 1939.

During this period, most emigrants came from Croatia’s coastal regions, but there were also migrants from Banija, Lika, Kordun, Slavonia, Srijem, Herzegovina, and northern Bosnia.

The third wave followed after the Second World War, between 1945 and 1956, when Croatian political emigrants arrived in Argentina.