MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine farmers plan 2 day strike and march on Bs. Aires

Argentine farmers announced this week they are back on the protest trail: a two-day strike has been programmed for next October 6 and two days later they will march on the capital Buenos Aires.

In spite of the Congressional defeat they inflicted last July on President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administration farm export tax policy, farmers are demanding aid to address the consequences of severe drought punishing several provinces and further reduction in taxes given the fall in commodities international prices. The Farmers Liaison Board is expected to announce soon which measures they will take as they considered their sector to be far worse off after their meeting on Tuesday with Agriculture Secretary Carlos Cheppi. The farmers'organization's communiqué read: "The government has consistently failed to comply with the agreements we had reached, and no more answers whatsoever were forthcoming. "As a result," they added, "we will take action because their (the government's) time is up to modify their agricultural policies." At the farmers' 36th national congress to be held in Rosario, FAA leaders from Entre Ríos province are expected to formalize the nationwide strike beginning October 6, as well as a demonstration in Buenos Aires slated for October 8. Speaking to reporters about the initiative, Entre Ríos farmers leader Alfredo De Angeli told reporters that, "an emergency bill, agreed by farmers' organizations and several political parties, has gone to Congress...We are also against the so-called 'superpowers' (which allow the Cabinet chief to reallocate funds) and we demand further measures regarding grain, meat and dairy exports". A day after farmers met with Cheppi, another farmers' leader Eduardo Buzzi said: "Cheppi is a respectable person but has limited power when it comes to deciding on solutions to the farming sector's demands". He also said that, "Cheppi treats us as though we were kelpers (Falklanders), outsiders in Argentina's political arena.