Argentine farm strike enters 13th day

[Bacchus39]

Source: AP


BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Shops in Argentina are going empty of beef, eggs and cooking oil as farmers and ranchers revolt against tax hikes.


Farmers and ranchers are blockading highways and dumping soybeans, cotton and other crops on the roads to protest a new government tax hike on exports. Argentina's biggest agricultural strike in decades is now entering its 13th day, with traffic jams reported Tuesday throughout the vast farmbelt.

President Cristina Fernandez says her government won't negotiate until the protets stop. Farmers and ranchers say they will keep striking until the government comes to the bargaining table.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/argentina_farmbelt_rebellion;_ylt=AtGnQm0gYRr8eGUcVMLv2gS3IxIF

[High Plains]

1. Hmmm, back in the day, Argentine ranchers were very reactionary.

I don't know if that's the case now.

[Acadia Blue]

2. I hope they win over the entrenched aristocracy of landlorded

Latin America vampire capitalist.

[Robbien]

3. This is a bit confusing

The farmers grow soybeans for export because it is the most profitable crop. The government says it wants farmers to grow crops which can be used internally such as corn or wheat.

So instead of giving farmers incentives to grow desired crops (I believe incentives are not allowed under FTAs), the government is penalizing farmers who grow crops for export.

If this is correct, this is an interesting situation to watch and see how it is resolved.

[Igel]

4. Wasn't there a deal signed recently between Arg. and Venezuela,

something like food for oil?

Am I misremembering this? And wasn't soybeans *not* part of the deal?

[Robbien]

5. Yes there was a deal with Venezuela

Argentine soy beans (according to the article I read) are not widely used in Latin America. Almost the entire crop is exported to the US and China.

The strike is against anything being loaded up into freighters. It is possible that the Venezuelan trade is ground trade. Since it is an "in kind" trade, export tax probably doesn't apply.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Bush-USAID-NED money supporting this big landowner strike? Betcha.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is a strong ally of Hugo Chavez (Venezuela), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Evo Morales (Bolivia). When the Bushites tried to embarrass and discredit her, and "divide and conquer" Venezuela-Argentina, with their ridiculous "suitcase full of money" Bush-CIA caper out of Miami, she basically (in politer words) said, 'Fuck you, Bush!"--and strengthened ties with Venezuela.

Among other things, this is their punishment of her for that idiocy not working. She also backed the FARC hostage negotiations, and was working with the presidents of Ecuador, Venezuela and France to get more hostages released, when Bush bombed Ecuador and put an end to those peace efforts in the 40+ year Colombian civil war.

As a promoter of social justice, and regional self-determination, and a strong ally of the Bolivarian democracies, she is a major menace to Bush war plans in the region, and, if that were not enough to make her one of their targets, there was a big oil find in Argentina, recently (last month).

The Bush junta is funding rightwing destabilization groups throughout the Andes. They are funding (and probably arming) the white separatist landowners in Bolivia. We can only presume that these Argentinian landowners are receiving Bushite funding and counsel. The Bush junta used a similar tactic in Venezuela, with the oil professionals' strike that nearly crippled the country, after Chavez won the recall election that the Bushites had also funded. This Argentine strike is aimed at wrecking the recent Argentina-Venezuela food-for-oil deal, and starving out Venezuela. It is in concert with Exxon Mobil's effort to freeze $12 billion in Venezuela's assets (--in a dispute about Venezuela's 60% share in its own oil--a deal that Norway's Statoil, France's Total, British BP and even Chevron agreed to), and Donald Rumfeld's plan to use a Colombian "free trade" deal for economic warfare against Venezuela, and to then instigate "swift action" by the U.S. in support of Bushite "friends and allies" in South America (fascist thugs planning coups).

Here is the chief orchestrator of these events:

"The Smart Way to Beat Tyrants Like Chávez," by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/1/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001800.html

We are looking at Oil War II: South America.

And we thought he was "retired"!

[Name removed]

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