Cristina vs. the farmers

By Tincho (our own specialist in Politics)

On Saturday 5th, our Deputies finally passed the bill of the “retenciones” with a very tight majority, 128 votes against 122. Now our Senators have to confirm this decision, in order for it to become a law.

But how did we get here?
The fact is that the president (Cristina, and her husband Néstor too) wanted to raise the “retenciones”, which are a means the government has to make farmers pay more taxes for their produce if they decide to export it.

Why do we have this problem?
On October 3rd, 2007 the “retenciones” were 33% of the total produce of each farm. But our President decided to raise them up to 44% in order to create what she called a “redistribution fund”. She said this was meant to distribute wealth more evenly and have some of this money allotted to helping the poor. Of course, the farmers didn’t want the retenciones to be raised, so they started complaining.

And what method did they use to complain?
They started cutting the way on the roads, stopping trucks, and not working their farms. This way, the food did not reach the supermarkets. A lot was wasted and besides that, the ghost of stockout, that means there is not enough stock of food to cover everyone’s needs, started to haunt us.

How come the project took more than 100 days to reach Congress?
Our Constitution says the president can decide how high the “retenciones” are, and that is exactly what Cristina did. In my opinion she did this to cover other problems in our country, such as insecurity and poverty.
But there was so much distress after her decision, because not only were the farmers furious, but also a big part of the rest of the common citizens, that after some “cacerolazos” and many protests, she decided to send the project over to Congress. Actually, she thought it was going to be a quick errand, but now she is slowly gathering it might not be as easy.

What should we expect now?
The official party managed to get the bill through the Deputies, so they are half way through. This week is crucial in the Senators’ Chambers and many conversations and negotiations are taking place. On Tuesday 15th, both the farmers and the government supporters will have their say on the streets and squares of Buenos Aires with different gatherings and, of course, Upper News will be there, covering them as well as the Senators’ session, for their readers.