"por" used as going after something?

Question

I am reading an article about the vulture fund (Elliott Associates, controlled by NML) situation in Argentina. The situation, for those of you not familiar with it, is that a vulture fund (hedge fund) is trying to plunder Argentina's economy in much the same way it has plundered the economies of other sovereign countries. The article begins by comparing the (disgusting, immoral) tactics previously used by the same vulture fund to take advantage of the Congo. Anyway, I'm wondering about the translation of "por" in the following context (por is used 3 times):

"Fueron por Congo; ahora por la Argentina. Fueron por los bonos en default...." It seems to make the most sense to translate the word "por" each of the above 3 times as "after" (They went after Congo; now they're going after Argentina. They're going after defaulted bonds), but I've never known "por" could mean "after."

What do you think?

Answer 1

I was going to say, but bosquederoble already made note of it, that mostly in Spain you will hear "a" and "por" used together.

Voy a por las llaves. I'm going for/after the keys.

¡Vamos a por ello! Let's get to it!

thanks, when I looked at Bosquederoble's answer it left me wondering about the use of "a" with "por". As I 've never been to Spain I 've never hear "a por." - malbecblend, Aug 4, 2014

Answer 2

I agree with you and Bosquederoble. These fund managers - basically a bunch of crooks - are going after these countries like vultures, which would obviously explain why the fund is called a "vulture fund".

However, the use of por in this context should not be confused with para, ie: Me voy para Argentina hoy en la tarde ..... I´m leaving for Argentina this afternoon.

yes, crooks, but with less conscience. - malbecblend, Aug 4, 2014

Don't see why you say crooks. Argentina borrowed money. Didn't pay what was owed to others. The original lenders lost more than 50% of their investment. Are they the only crooks in this story? - juanmelgar, Aug 4, 2014

Are these vulture funds the only crooks? - juanmelgar, Aug 4, 2014

Argentina didn't borrow $ from these vultures. When Argentina couldn't pay all of their creditors back in 2001, they subsequently worked out a deal with 92% of creditors and ever since paid on time and faithfully. Pls read up on vultures. It's terrible. - malbecblend, Aug 7, 2014

Answer 3

Although the examples here mostly are a little more benign, I highlighted a couple from one of our dictionaries that might give the sense- none the less I think a lot of them would translate as go after something- you could for example say "she's gone after some wine"

http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=por

22 prep. U. en lugar de la preposición a y el verbo traer u otro. Ir por leña, por vino, por pan.

http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/por

11 for (en busca de)

• baja por tabaco go down to the shops for some cigarettes, go down to get some cigarettes • a por for • vino a por las entradas she came for the tickets

21

ir (a) por algo/algn (en busca de) to go and get sth/sb

ha ido (a) por vino she's gone to get some wine

voy por el médico I'll go and fetch o get the doctor;

voy a por él (a buscarle) I'll go and get him; (a atacarle) I'm going to get him;

solo van a por las pelas they're only in it for the money;

¡a por ellos! get them!

Gracias, mucho mas claro! - aha69, Aug 4, 2014