'Tractorazo' of the field against the Argentine Government

"Long live the homeland, long live the countryside," they shouted this Saturday from their agricultural producer tractors as they entered the Plaza de Mayo, the epicenter of social protests in Argentina.

They mobilized from different cities in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe to the Argentine capital to protest against the policies of the Peronist Alberto Fernández.

The ruralists were applauded by thousands of opponents who joined the march.

Argentina is one of the world's largest food exporters and the participation of this sector in the economy has increased even more in recent years due to the impact of the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine: more than 70% of the currencies that enter the country are the result of agricultural exports.

However, the Government has tried unsuccessfully to contain the increase in the price of food (close to 60% year-on-year) with restrictions on sales abroad and higher taxes, which has further strained the relationship between the countryside and the Executive.

AME3349.

BUENOS AIRES (ARGENTINA), 04/23/2022.- Different groups of rural producers protest by tractor against the economic policies of the national government that affect them today, in Buenos Aires (Argentina).

A group of self-convened rural producers marched this Saturday through the center of Buenos Aires, some of them on tractors, to protest against the Argentine government's policies that they consider harmful to the agricultural sector.

EFE/ Matias CampayaMATIAS CAMPAYA (EFE)

One of the triggers for the protest was the increase of two percentage points in the export tax on soybean meal and oil, up to the 33% that was already levied on the oilseed.

Producers also want to avoid new taxes, for example for the export of cereals such as corn and wheat, which today is 12%.

The Government has clarified that it will not appeal to this resource to increase its tax collection despite pressure from the Kirchnerist wing of the coalition, but the ruralists are suspicious.

"We have not come here to ask for a hand, but to get both of us off us," demanded the producers.

"We bring a simple proclamation: We are not willing to continue financing the rope with which they hang us," they added.

The mobilization did not have formal organizers, but it quickly became politicized: many of the demonstrators chanted anti-Peronist slogans while the opposition accompanied the call with the presence of some of its leaders in the mobilization and messages of support on social networks.

“The countryside seeks to work, export and produce more.

We are always going to be on the side of work and that is why we accompany them”, tweeted the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, after having been at the march.

“The Kirchnerist government returned with more of the same, wanting to set foot in the countryside again, but it was the countryside that made itself heard peacefully and respectfully.

Congratulations.

The great engine of the country is going to be essential for us to get back on the right track in 2023,” said former President Mauricio Macri.

Macri made a large tax cut to the countryside at the beginning of his term, but reinstated them again after the country entered into crisis, in 2018.

We march in defense of the countryside, production, work and institutions.

In the face of each outrage they will see us on the side of truth, with the strength and courage that change needs.

Let's not loosen up, Argentines!

#23A 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/DMeJi4nXXE

– Patricia Bullrich (@PatoBullrich) April 23, 2022

“You can't keep carrying the donkey that moves the wheel, much less eat it.

In order to distribute wealth, it must first be created and the best way to distribute it is free work,” the document added.

The agricultural producers were applauded by the thousands of demonstrators who joined the mobilization by sounding the horns of their cars or on foot, wrapped in Argentine flags and waving the Argentine Constitution in the air.

Many of the banners and insults heard during the rally were directed against former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, now vice president.

While the tractor attack was taking place, Alberto Fernández participated in a congress of the Evita Movement, one of the Peronist groups that support the Government.

Without a direct allusion to the field, Fernández remarked that his government seeks that "those who earn the most are those who contribute the most and those who have the least receive what they deserve."

For the time being, the large rural entities have not joined the march and are maintaining open lines of dialogue with the government, but the tension is expected to intensify for next year, in which Argentina will hold presidential elections.