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Argentines on High School Reunion Bore Brunt of New York Attack - The New York Times

posted onNovember 2, 2017
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Article snippet: ROSARIO, Argentina — Their big trip to New York had been decades in the making. Thirty years ago, when they were all still high school students in this industrial city in Argentina, 10 young men promised to celebrate their reunion somewhere in style. “In 30 years, we have to go on a trip,” said Cristian Ciancia, a fellow graduate, recalling the pledge. The friends eventually settled on New York, but the cost was too high. So Ariel Erlij — one of five Argentines killed in the terrorist attack on Tuesday in Lower Manhattan — did not think twice before helping to pay for flights, friends said. “When any friend, any acquaintance, needed anything, he never hesitated to offer a hand,” said Mr. Ciancia, who was not on the trip. Finally, the 30-year promise was coming true — until the unimaginable happened. A motorist mowed down cyclists and pedestrians on a bike path along the Hudson River on Tuesday afternoon, killing eight people, including half of the group from Argentina. “We don’t understand how there can be so much evil in the world,” said Alejandro Luca, a close friend and business partner of Mr. Erlij. The Argentine friends had been inseparable in high school and had remained close over the years, even as two of them moved to the United States. Last Saturday, eight of them set off to the United States from Rosario, which is northwest of Buenos Aires. Before boarding a flight, they looked giddy as they posed for a photograph wearing matching white T-shirts imprin... Link to the full article to read more

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