Without Meat Once More?

Again, we are headed to the supermarkets and preparing our food storage because it appears that after a 30 day "peace period" between Argentine Farmers and the President, no progress has been made. For 3 weeks in March, Farmers protested and went on strike by not allowing delivery trucks from the provinces into the city with food. Major grocery stores were barren and meat was something to be pulled from your freezer. Many restaurants, including well-known grills, did not have meat to serve to its guests. The farmers were well organized when they cut off these truck routes, but the government is hoping that the farmers will not be as successful at mobilizing this time. She has cancelled scheduled meetings with grain farmers and will not budge on her stand with the meat farmers after making promises of compromise in order to get the farmers to back down for the past month. Kirchner is losing major public support.

Inflation here is out-of-control and is affecting us greatly. Caps are held on prices of items monitored by foreign investment banks, however independent organizations speculate that inflation is somewhere between 20-35%. Just since our arrival in November, prices have soared. The kids are in local Argentine schools where the year begins in March. Both school have increased prices (the more expensive one by 12.5%) since school began to make up for increased operating costs. The only thing that softens the blow is the increasing value of the dollar to the peso.

Here is an interesting article with further explanation from the New York Times:

In Argentina’s Grain Belt, Farmers Revolt Over Taxes