Argy Farmers: The Gloves Are Off
Farmers in Argentina are back on the warpath exactly a year after they began strikes and roadblocks in protest against punative export taxes and government red tape.
Grass root groups are again camping on road sides, while leaders organize rallies in highly sensitive agriculture areas and promise to be in Congress next week in support of opposition legislation eliminating export taxes.
Meanwhile the war of words is hotting up nicely.
In a rally in Cordoba yesterday farm leaders rounded on Argy President Cristina Fernandez after, in an attempt to get the populace on her side, she accused the farmers of being “greedy” and “insatiable” and saying that they “couldn’t care less about the rest of Argentina”.
"I am the President and cannot do things alone we need the cooperation of the farmers yet nothing is ever enough to satisfy them," bleated the President this week.
“Farmers are not the insatiable rich which Mrs. Kirchner describes in her speeches,” said Argentine Rural Society president Hugo Biolcati. “Maybe if the lady travelled less in helicopter and more by land she could see the cracked soil and dust bowls, with starving cattle,” he added.
Of course the farm leaders themselves aren't shy of putting a bit of their own spin on the situation.
“We are in the ridiculous situation where international prices of commodities have plummeted but in Argentina they remain virtually unchanged for consumers because of the export taxes. A situation that will worsen in the coming crops because farmers won’t invest money or time in planting.” said Eduardo Buzzi from the Argentine Agrarian Federation.
“We would all like to know whose dinning table this government is protecting, certainly not that of the average hard working Argentine,” he added.
Grass root groups are again camping on road sides, while leaders organize rallies in highly sensitive agriculture areas and promise to be in Congress next week in support of opposition legislation eliminating export taxes.
Meanwhile the war of words is hotting up nicely.
In a rally in Cordoba yesterday farm leaders rounded on Argy President Cristina Fernandez after, in an attempt to get the populace on her side, she accused the farmers of being “greedy” and “insatiable” and saying that they “couldn’t care less about the rest of Argentina”.
"I am the President and cannot do things alone we need the cooperation of the farmers yet nothing is ever enough to satisfy them," bleated the President this week.
“Farmers are not the insatiable rich which Mrs. Kirchner describes in her speeches,” said Argentine Rural Society president Hugo Biolcati. “Maybe if the lady travelled less in helicopter and more by land she could see the cracked soil and dust bowls, with starving cattle,” he added.
Of course the farm leaders themselves aren't shy of putting a bit of their own spin on the situation.
“We are in the ridiculous situation where international prices of commodities have plummeted but in Argentina they remain virtually unchanged for consumers because of the export taxes. A situation that will worsen in the coming crops because farmers won’t invest money or time in planting.” said Eduardo Buzzi from the Argentine Agrarian Federation.
“We would all like to know whose dinning table this government is protecting, certainly not that of the average hard working Argentine,” he added.