Redpossum
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La Sociedad Rural exigió la "total liberación de los mercados" y cuestionó las retenciones | Pequeño muestrario de la codicia terrateniente
Con un discurso confrontativo, el presidente de la entidad, Nicolás Pino, apuntó contra Cristina Kirchner, evitó mencionar a Alberto Fernández y fue cauto con Sergio Massa, con quien mantendrá un encuentro los próximos días.
AS usual, the banner above is in Castellano, and the story will initially appear in that tongue, but be patient and in 3-4 seconds it will change to English. As always, please remember that machine translation is inherently imperfect; specifically, occurrences of the words "camp" or "field" are imperfect translations of "el campo" which phrase refers to the rural agro producers in general, and the very large ones in particular.
Today is the last day of the SRA's annual exhibition at La Rural, on the Plaza Italia in Palermo.
SRA, for those not familiar with it, is the most conservative, if not reactionary, of the organizations representing the great landowners who form the de facto rural aristocracy of Argentina. Some years ago, I asked an Argentine student of mine, a woman who works in commercial real estate and is a card carrying member of that porteño middle class we call la burgesía, how conservative the SRA really is. She replied, with raised eyebrows, "Conservative? They still believe in slavery!"
Nicholas Pino, the president of SRA, delivered a blistering oratory, with the usual excoriation of Cristina, ( who is the great bogeyman of the rural aristocracy). But more importantly he again challenged the very idea of retenciones, which are the tax on agro exports from which the Argentine government derives the bulk of its annual revenue. This may not seem like a big deal, but Pino's claim is that the tax is illegal and unconstitutional. And the conservative opposition controls the Supreme Court. This has the potential to lead to a total collapse of the federal government in Argentina.
Yes, I know, I sound like Chicken Little, running around shrieking "the sky is falling, the sky is falling", but I did say "potential". I don't really think it will happen, but we should remember that we live in very dangerous times, when resources are at a premium. Argentina's agricultural excellence makes it a fat plum, and the current instability makes it ripe for the picking, if one has the power, and the audacity to use it. There are precedents.
