The Latest

Due to problems with my internet connection, I haven't been able to update for the last several weeks. However, I'm back now so here's a brief summary of some of the most interesting things that have been going on:

And after the vote...?
Despite the fact that they essentially “won” the vote in Congress last month, leaders of the various agricultural organizations are giving the government a kind of ultimatum (along the lines of “time is running out”) for their demands to be met. They’re threatening to begin a new lockout among other types of protest –similar to what we saw last March when dairy products, meat and some vegetables were suddenly absent from local stores. The tone of their demands and their relations with the current government are beginning to look like the emergence of an organized and coherent opposition (party?). They appear, for instance, to be much more interested in political opposition to the government, in making their demands public and in relations with the media then in actual negotiations. On the one hand, a coherent opposition is a sign of a healthy democracy and, in forcing the government to be clearer about its agenda and attentive to all sectors of society, could also have beneficial effects on the current government. However, it must also be noted that many of the key figures emerging politically in the agricultural sector, have not been historically “democratic” players (directly or indirectly associated with past military dictatorships and/or their objectives). Furthermore, they have some very powerful financial interests on their side as well as most national media.

Cobos for President?
Meanwhile, following the vote last month of vice president Cobos (now popularly referred to as “Cleto” his unusual middle name), against his own government’s bill in Congress, it looks increasingly like he’s positioning himself to campaign for president in 2011. It’s a long way off, but the Legislature will have elections next year and candidates are already being debated. Following the vote, there has been a divide within the government between the Cobos-loyal Radicals (Cobos was originally from the UCR –the Radical Civic Union; his party threw him out when he ran on the ballot with Cristina last December) and the “K” Radicals, those loyal to the current government. Last month many of the Cobos loyal Radicals resigned from their positions within the government and Cobos is increasingly seen with figures associated with the agricultural sector, appearing at rural expos and events from which the government has otherwise been deliberately absent. The UCR recently hinted that it will consider welcoming back those thrown out of the party for their relationship with the FPV (Cristina’s party). It also appears that the government is considering its own candidates for the upcoming 2009 elections in places where Cobos would have loyal candidates. In other words, the current government is something like a beast with two heads. For the moment, one is largely neutralized.

Taking Flight
Since the vote on export tariffs, the government has been dealing with another important bill in Congress: the re-nationalization of Argentine Airlines (Aerolíneas Argentinas) from a Spanish company that is essentially bankrupt. The company originally belonged to the State and was privatized in the “neoliberal” 90s (by then president Carlos Menem). In order to make sure that this time their project gained approval (they couldn’t afford another loss in Congress), the government made multiple concessions to other political parties and the opposition. The bill passed with two thirds of the votes. The debate was notably less fierce, the issues (and interests) at stake much less contentious.

Those Poor Farmers
Lastly, the government recently changed their Secretary of Agriculture. Carlos Cheppi this weekend gave his first public interview to the press (newspaper Página 12) in which he comments on, among others, the issue of defining so-called “small” and “medium” producers. Cheppi says: “We’re talking about producers who are dealing with one million or 500,000 dollars and who are also owners of the land, of significant capital. [...] They are people who are dealing with a lot of money, who earn a lot of money, [and are by no means] poor. And I’m not saying this as if it were something negative. On the contrary, they are a sector that dynamizes the economy, that reinvests, that have sent their sons to study and whose sons have today put the sector at the leading edge of competitivity in agriculture on an international scale. The problem is that perhaps they can no longer be considered small producers”. (The entire interview, in Spanish, is here.)