Quilombo Update

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AND THE FIGHT CONTINUES:


This is so ridiculous that I had to share it with all of you. As most of you have probably read my previous Quilombo blog the government is still fighting with the farmers over export taxes (on just soy beans mind you) and the protesting problems continue. Soy is 90% exported and this was not only a government attempt to "redistribute wealth" through taxes but also to encourage the farmers to produce more items for internal use. This country has a huge gap between the rich and poor and the poor are starving with little to no resources.

After the initial protests of cutting travel routes, the farmers then staged a massive 21 day food strike which created a dire shortage within the cities with food prices still at ridiculously inflated prices.... The support of the middle class then caused the cacerolero (which historically brought down 5 presidents in a row after the peso crisis in 2001) and increased tension with the government. The community is complaining that she

After the government cut the tax for small farmers they called a 30-day truce. But within this "peace-time" the farmers apparently decided to get a little more "creative." They have now started burning so much of their fields, apparently as part of an annual slash and burn technique that cities for miles and miles have filled with smoke. According to Wikipedia, this "Slash and burn" technique consists of cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields for agriculture or pasture purposes. It can sometimes be part of shifting cultivation agriculture, or manner of livestock herding.

Now if that isn't crazy enough.. the cities are covered in a thick dense smoke from Entre Rios down to Mar del Plata (About a quarter of this HUGE country!). You cannot see more than 5 feet in front of you, and the smoke irritates eyes and initiates asthma attacks. The local governments have all shut down all highways to prevent more accidents as many have died in the past day. This whole thing seems like child’s play fighting to prove who has the most power.

(Random Irony: Buenos Aires = Good Air.... Not this week!)

The media and the farmers are calling this an annual renewal routine and claim no fault.....

The government put out a harsh response saying "This is the largest fire of this kind we've ever seen. It was started by farmers clearing land for cattle grazing driven by greed for profit with total disregard for human life."-Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo

"This is not a natural disaster; this is the result of certain aspects of human nature, irrationality and irresponsibility."- President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

----- OOOOO Them are fightin' words son! Things are about to get interesting


http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1732095,00.html

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Comments

[Dany08]

Smoke Reasons
Jennifer, Although everybody here en BA have heard about the smoke as related with the Government vs Agroexporters conflict. It is not. Every year this incredible and antiecological technique of slash and burn have been affected minor cities of northen Buenos Aires Province and Southern Entre Ríos and Santa Fé Provincies. But lately, as a consequence of the incredible rise of the cereals prices, a lot of lands in what is know as "the island" have been adquired by one or two mega big producers. Apparently they have resources enough to buy such enormous lands but not to buy agrochemical for this task (poor them!!!). So they choose to smoke a quarter of the country. But don't worry for them, they will never be catched. Here exist crime but we always remain waiting for punishment.