Colombia farmers' strikes spread to cities
Colombia farmers' strikes spread to cities
Thursday 29 Aug 2013 2:38p.m.
By Juan Parada and Kim Choe
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Coal and gold miners, among others, have been on strike since July 17, demanding the repeal of a 2012 government decree that allows police to seize and destroy unauthorised machinery used for exploration.
Rice, onion and potato growers joined the protests in mid-August, calling for an extension of government subsidies. The farmers say fertilisers and other products they use have become too expensive.
"For the past three years, we have been selling our product below production cost," says potato farmers' representative Cesar Pachon. "That is not fair. Because all we have built during our whole lives, in this moment we have lost."
"We have made the Colombian economy grow," says one coffee farmer. "Eighty years building richness. Analyse that. I am 77 years old and still stepped on by the government. Abused."
Farmers also want the government to renegotiate free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union.
Truck drivers and students have now also joined the strikes as they spread into the cities. Curfews have been imposed in some towns.
More:
http://www.3news.co.nz/Colombia-farmers-strikes-spread-to-cities/tabid/417/articleID/311106/Default.aspx#ixzz2dKQK5aXF
LA forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110821707
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