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Economy | 5 July, 2006 [ 13:59 ]

Farmers protest against Free-Trade agreement in Lima and provinces

Thousands of farmers blocked highways and clashed with police Tuesday to protest the recently ratified Free-Trade Agreement (FTA / TLC).

Hundreds of people marched in Lima from Plaza Dos de Mayo towards the US ambassador's residence at Av. Arequipa. The overall participation however was rather disappointing. It is difficult to know whether the Football World Cup or the absence of the leader of the nationalistic opposition, Ollanta Humala, had something to do with it.

At a noon press conference, Antolin Huascar, head of Peru's national farming association (CNA) and leader of the National Coordination Against the FTA, reiterated on the low attendance. “Nobody feels bad if only few people come. We are just warming up. Within a year everybody is going to these protest marches will grow". he said.
After being asked if Humala's absence affected this call for protest, he clarified that “this movement does not belong to anybody” but added “hopefully he continues to listen to our problems and doesn't betray us like the others”.

Although the marches in Lima were mostly peaceful, the police in the provinces occasionally used tear gas to disperse rice growers who blocked roads and burned tires near Peru's border with Ecuador, and roadblocks by farmers in southern Peru backed up hundreds of buses and trucks along the main regional highways. Farmers in Arequipa blocked streets with rocks.

This time the “fight” between “Superman” and the “Cocawoman” was mostly allegorical but there is no denying that a few more rounds are still to come.


tags : Peru economy free-trade USA FTA Congress protest opposition

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2 Comments

# Norman Giem says :
5 July, 2006 [ 21:21 ]

Your article is very misleading. In reality there are only a small portion of the farmers protesting the Free Trade Agreement. By far the large majority are in support of it. Please try to get your facts correct.

# Wolfy says :
5 July, 2006 [ 22:01 ]

Norman,
first, I wrote "thousands" of farmers in all of Peru and "hundreds" protested in Lima. This is in fact a small portion of Peru's farmers, isn't it?
Secondly, how do you know that "by far the large majority" of farmers is supporting the FTA? Where do you get your "facts" and what exactly are they based on? Even assuming this is true, where does the article state the opposite?

What I do know is that the majority of farmers voted for Humala, who called for the protests and mobilization. I also believe that many farmers don't even know the facts of the FTA and its consequences.
The rest of the article are quotes of Huascar. I cannot find anything misleading in this article which is purely based on yesterday's events.

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