Large, pot-banging protests rang through Argentine cities for the first time in years after the president rejected negotiations with farmers and ranchers over increased export taxes on agricultural goods.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner refused on Tuesday to ease tax hikes on agricultural exports, facing down angry farmers embroiled in a nationwide strike that has all but halted production in one of the world's biggest beef-eating and beef-exporting nations.
The president's hard-line address on national television unexpectedly mobilized thousands of middle class Argentines against the government and in support of the farmers.
PHOTO: AP
And provincial cities across Argentina's farmbelt waged similar pot-banging protests called cacerolazo -- Spanish for the kinds of demonstrations used to bring down ill-fated former leaders during a 2001 to 2002 economic meltdown.
It was the first major cacerolazo protest since similar demonstrations forced former president Fernado de la Rua from office in December 2001 as the economy imploded.
"This is a pretty ugly wake-up alarm for the government after just a few months in power," said protester Hector Bernardino, among the 5,000 who thronged the main Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires into the early hours yesterday.
He said that middle class Argentines, like the farmers, are weary of taxes and double-digit inflation that he said the government has sought to conceal behind praise for a robust recovery from a 2002 economic crisis.
A protest by some 2,000 people was reported outside the president's suburban Buenos Aires residence. Some banged on the shuttered gates to her walled compound shouting "Argentina! Argentina! Cristina, Resign!"
The new sliding-scale increase in export taxes has sent South America's second-largest economy -- and a major agricultural exporter -- into full farmbelt rebellion.
Taxes on soybeans -- another major Argentine export -- are being hiked from 35 percent to 45 percent, with smaller increases on corn and other farm products.
"Bad policies by the government are leaving people without food, without beef," complained Mario Llambias, one of the farm protest organizers who announced yesterday that the strike would now continue "indefinitely."
But in a tough speech, Fernandez announced no concessions to striking farmworkers nationwide, vowing not to "give in to extortion." She even called the strike a "comedy" gag.
Farmworkers have vowed to strike indefinitely despite the threat of growing shortages nationwide.
"She chose a path of confrontation," said Eduardo Buzzi, one of the strike organizers. "Now I ask what will come after this ... repression?"
After a searing 2002 economic meltdown, the government replenished its coffers through taxes on surging grain exports and commodity prices. The cash influx powered an economic rebound, with growth rates topping 8 percent annually. Agriculture remains one of its most profitable sectors. But the industry is howling at having to pay more and farmers are demanding a rollback on the new taxes.
The government said it would hold no talks while the strike continues.
Across the country, police have managed to keep the most important routes open without widescale arrests or violence.
In Buenos Aires on Tuesday night, thousands of demonstrators supporting the striking farmworkers tensely stood face to face with about 200 pro-government jobless demonstrators who support Fernandez.
Pot-banging protester Ernesto Torres said the government's new tax plan triggered pent-up civic anger over what little impact the economic recovery has had on the pocketbooks of millions.
About a fourth of Argentina's 40 million people remain in poverty and the jobless rate still hovers stubbornly near 10 percent.
"This is outright robbery," said Torres, who fears that after taxing farmers Fernandez might next go after the middle class.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to