gotta love july. the sun is shining, the gente leave a layer of clothing behind, and the lawns of the parques are saturated with solseekers. that has been the case over the past four or five days and, while i love summer as much as the next hombre, it is winter (see: hemisphere, southern). unfortunately, this has not been the only thing that has contributed to more densely crowded streets and sidewalks. along with the escalating lucha between the government and the campo, there is a palpable feeling around the city that is, well, weird. thus, you are spared a global warming rant from yours truly.
entonces, to clarify a little further about the campo-gobierno dispute (which i wrote about in la huelga, for those following from home), the government introduced their retencion proposal on agricultural exports to congress a couple weeks ago. approved after a marathon session (voting completed around 3 am on a friday night), the measure has moved on to the senate where it will be voted on this evening. polls showed going into today that the pro/con breakdown was 34-33 with 5 undecided, contributing to the festivities of yesterday.
in an effort to show popular support and cajole lawmakers (at least 5 of them), the leaders of el campo called for a rally in palermo yesterday afternoon (coincidentally, wink wink, close to homes with high property values). to counter that, the gobierno called for its own rally at the same time, outside the congressional building. by the most conservative estimates (and therefore the most credible), the campo won the show of force by a final score of 200,000 enraged citizens to 90,000 discontent inhabitants. but like hits and first downs, these sums are not the determinants for who gets the trophy and who takes the long shower. when voting ceases later tonight, it is most likely that the losing party will have to move the goalposts to send this thing to extra innings. [end poor sports analogies]
regardless of the victor from this evening or the entire pelea, the future of a major developing nation and many hungry people is dependent upon somebody stepping up and becoming a gracious loser. inflation has skyrocketed for your average argentine and the fear of eventual food shortages is omnipresent. meanwhile, the strike has thinned out the traditional governmental cash cow that finances the subsidies for industries like energy and oil that drive so much of this (or any) economy. so, best case scenario: somebody wins vote tonight, loser steps down and cans the incendiary language. but then, this is latin america after all.
post scripto. all derisive comments about campo supports being well-heeled aside, they have the support of my two most recent cab drivers. mas, the us ambassador that recently met with the presidenta more or less asked her what the hell was going on, since the state department doesn't really have a clue (urge to insert iraq comment).......en resumen........this dispute is com-plex.
suerte, argentina
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