Argentina's president vows no concessions as country's major farm strike enters 13th day

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- President Cristina Fernandez refused to ease tax increases on agricultural exports Tuesday, facing down angry farmers embroiled a nationwide strike that has all but halted production in one of the world's biggest beef-exporting nations.

At least 9,000 cattle normally enter this capital's sprawling stockyard each day for slaughter, yet not a single animal arrived this week due to the farm and ranch strike, the largest in decades.

South America's second-largest economy -- a leading exporter of soybeans, beef and wheat -- is in full farmbelt rebellion over a new sliding-scale increase in export taxes. Soybean taxes are being raised from 35 percent to 45 percent, with smaller increases on corn and other farm products.

Scattered shops began emptying of beef, milk, chicken and cooking oil Tuesday as farmworkers mounted the most serious challenge yet to Fernandez's fledgling government.

"Bad policies by the government are leaving people without food, without beef," complained Mario Llambias, one of the farm protest organizers who announced Tuesday a 13-day-old strike would now continue "indefinitely."

But Fernandez appeared undeterred as she delivered a televised address later in the evening. Vowing not to "give in to extortion," the new president declared that her government will not grant any concessions to the striking farm and ranch workers.

Fernandez said farm producers have profited from a boom in commodity prices and it is only fair to tax them more to redistribute wealth to poorer parts of society. "This seems like ... comedy," she said.

Rural workers beat pots and pans in rural communities on the farming pampas to protest the president's speech. Others lit tires on fire after nightfall on blockaded roads and vowed to stiffen their protests.

After a searing 2002 economic meltdown, the government replenished its coffers through taxes on surging grain exports and soaring commodity prices. The cash influx powered an economic rebound, with growth rates topping 8 percent annually.

Argentina's economy is back on track -- and agriculture remains one of its most profitable sectors. It's only fair that farmers and ranchers be taxed on more of that wealth, according to Economy Minister Martin Lousteau, who announced the controversial tax overhaul March 11.

Growing demand for foodstuffs in China and other teeming nations, high oil prices and other shifts in the global economy have all helped pushed grain prices to new highs in recent months.

But the agriculture industry is howling at having to pay more.

"The countryside says 'Enough!'" declared one strike leader, Eduardo Buzzi.

The farmers are demanding to sit down and negotiate a rollback on the new taxes, which Buzzi calls "extortion" against farmers. The government says it won't start talks until the protests stop.

"This government will not be pressured," vowed Justice Minister Anibal Fernandez.

And so the daily demonstrations have continued, with belching tractors and giant harvesters blocking rural highways nationwide, occasionally sowing monstrous traffic jams.

During the long Easter holiday weekend on routes from the capital to South Atlantic beaches, many Argentines stuck in the traffic applauded the demonstrators, saying they too are fed up with government taxes.

The protests have spread far beyond the capital, with sugarcane workers beating cane stalks along highways in north-central Tucuman province, soybean farmers dumping mounds of beans near the border with Uruguay and others setting old pickup trucks ablaze in blocking traffic through orange-growing regions north of Buenos Aires.

Police have managed to keep the most important routes open without widescale arrests or violence. But the confrontations have been tense.

And now Argentina's consumers are beginning to feel the pinch.

In the country's main stockyard Tuesday, the Liniers market, a lone cowhand galloped on his horse past empty cattle pens where thousands of cattle usually jostle, and other workers idly sipped mate, a hot Argentine tea.

At nearby butcher shops, white-smocked butchers wiped empty freezers dry as meat ran out, and shoppers worried about more shortages ahead.

One supermarket group warned of dwindling wheat, rice and pasta supplies in the western city of Mendoza. In eastern Rosario, cooking oil shortages were reported.

"I don't even have chicken left," said one idled butcher, Alfredo Estefano. "Look I just have three bags of hot dogs. We haven't seen a strike like this in 20 years."

The butchers are caught in the middle, he complained. But some shoppers said they are rooting for the farmers, even if shelves go bare.

Pedro Garuso, a 65-year-old retiree, said millions of Argentines are still struggling to live off skimpy pensions eroded by the past economic crisis and soaring inflation.

"The government is like a thief," Garuso said, his shopping bag nearly empty. "If they aren't going after farmers one day they are going after someone else the next."