Argentinian Producers Make “tratoraço In Protest Against The Government Esstadão

A group of rural producers marched through the center of this Saturday 23rd Buenos Airess, some of them on tractors to protest government policies Argentina which they consider harmful to the agricultural sector.

The caravan, made up of 30 tractors and hundreds of cars, motorcycles and other vehicles, advanced along the avenues north of the capital until they reached the famous Plaza de Mayo in front of the Casa Rosada, seat of Argentina’s executive branch.

More than a thousand people gathered there to end the protest, which spread to other cities in the country such as Cordoba, Tucumán and Rosario.

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Farm workers drive tractors through the streets of Buenos Aires in protest against the government. Photo: Matias Campaya/EFE

This “Tratoraço” did not have the institutional support of the socalled Mesa de Enlace, formed by Argentina’s four largest rural employers’ federations, although it did have the support of some regional agricultural organizations and sections of the political opposition.

The reasons for the protest are varied: In addition to rejecting additional tax pressure on the rural sector, the organizers called for better public resource management, less political spending and more investment in productive infrastructure.

Numerous citizens also took the opportunity to take to the streets and express their rejection of the national government with slogans against political corruption and for tax cuts.

In the last few days, the government of Alberto Fernandez questioned the protest, arguing that its claims were “not very clear”.

“We have no doubt that this is an absolutely political march and that it is about other interests than defending the legitimate rights of rural farmers,” Presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti said at a news conference on Friday.

For his part, the mayor of Buenos Aires, opposition leader Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, called on the national government to “respect” these protests rather than “encourage” confrontations between workers.

Protest by farmers and agricultural workers on the streets of the Argentine capital Photo: EMILIANO LASALVIA / AFP

“Given the anticipation of the announcement that they want to raise taxes, how are they not going to manifest, how are we not going to support them? This is Argentina’s engine and future,” Rodríguez told TN.

The protest comes in the context of a sharp rise in international commodity prices since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which favors agricultural exporters in Argentina, one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of grains and derivatives, but has had a direct impact on an acceleration of domestic inflation , especially in food.

In addition to this situation resulting from the war in Ukraine, the Argentine agricultural sector has had a difficult relationship with the Kirchnerist governments since 2008, mainly due to high export taxes on grain and derivatives, an important source of revenue for the Argentine Treasury./EFE