Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Staff Abroad

Lauren Perry

laperry@vwc.ewdu

Clashing and clanging and ringing, the bronze pots were raised high by the calloused hands of hundreds of farmers of Buenos Aires, marching down the streets towards the famous Plaza de Mayo.

Waving large Argentine flags and angry, painted signs, the farmers made a long march to the center of the city, outside the pink house of President Cristina Fernandez, to protest new taxes imposed upon farmers on March 11.

This decree by the president raised the export tax on soybeans, the biggest export of Argentina, and other exports from 35 percent to 45 percent, causing farmers to lose more money in the trade than it takes to grow their crops. While President Fernandez declared many reasons for this, such as helping to curb rising domestic food prices and checking the 20 percent rate of inflation, she did not consult the farmers before imposing the tax – the first big mistake of her presidency.

Maybe her second was to have every other poor, homeless street bum in Buenos Aires bribed for 200 pesos to be hauled onto buses and escorted by force (so they would earn their bribe) to the Plaza de

Mayo to protest in favor of the government. Makes her look supported, maybe, but the resulting violence between the two groups only inflated the tense situation even more. Though the government was “represented,” there were no police in the Plaza to control the rioting.

This wasn’t something that my host family and I just watched on TV and then went on about our lives. For the next three weeks, these angry farmers stopped exporting food to the big, bustling, dependent city. They blockaded roads to the north and east. Vegetables, milk, and especially meat became a rarities. Empty grocery stores put a strain on every family. Restaurants were unable to produce anything on their menus. Bakeries held only empty shelves.

Attempts were made to compromise between the leader of the strike, Juan Echeverria, and President Fernandez. But the first demand of the farmers, to eliminate the new tax, was never agreed upon. So, for three tense weeks, the entire city was focused on the issue, waiting impatiently to have their world-class beef again and thinking back to the 1970s.

February of 1976 was the last time that farmers imposed a food shortage upon the city. This was one month before a military coup and a resulting bloody dictatorship that scarred the nation, leaving tens of thousands dead or missing.

Not that this is likely to happen again, but I’m sure the comparison is not far from President Fernandez’s mind.

Last week Echeverria finally paused the strike, allowing for food to enter the city again and leaving a one-month time limit for the president to lift the tax. The truce will last for three more weeks before their demand must be met.

It’s nice to have full grocery stores again and to see busy restaurants and colorful bakeries on every corner.

But we’re all still waiting on Cristina to make her first big decision of her presidency, one that will effect the economy, inflation, agriculture, and every resident within and without the big, bustling, dependent city of Buenos Aires.