you know that if there is not a strike, or at least serious discussions about a strike, then you are not in latin america. for as much as many argentine´s, or specifically porteños, would like to think they are not, this country is in latin america and the current imbroglio is further evidence.
from my limited second-language information gathering skills and short tenure en pais:
to make a long story short (and short story long), the country can be summarized by a city that holds 1/3 of the population and an agricultural sector that earns 1/2 of its GDP. the agricultural sector, campo, has predominately been comprised of an oligarchic elite while many of BA´s inhabitants flirt with just about any measure of poverty. entonces, when argentina´s experienced hyperinflation at the beginning of the decade, it was the campo that bailed the country out and ushered in the system from which the present government derives.
within the past months, the gobierno has imposed various levies and taxes on agricultural exports at a time when global commodity prices are soaring and this country has the infrastructure (and hungry asian trading partners) to facilitate a windfall in profits. these tariffs are intended to finance new initiatives throughout the country, but especially within the city, to ameliorate the living standards of those with the least. from my understanding, the proposed taxes doubled to around 43% instead of a more modest proposal. as i see it, the gobierno followed through with great intentions but has badly played their hand. so, the campo has been on strike for months, curtailing production and threatening to withhold food from the city.
the campo feels aggieved by having recently bailed out the country from a financial crisis to now having these steep taxes imposed on them. the gobierno feels a responsibility to leverage the nation´s greatest economic asset to raise the prospects of the urban poor. as usual, in this battle between two giants it is the ground that suffers. large-scale producers and the urban elite are still doing well, while the little- and medium-guy who now has to compete with excess local competition is bearing the brunt. to add insult, campo representatives have poured thousands of litres of milk in the streets and slaughtered cows just to show their disdain for the gobierno.
a piece of urban graffiti best summarizes my sentiment:
con la comida, no se joda
(don´t fuck with the food)
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