So, for those interested in world politics, something pretty awesome happened today in Argentina.
The country has been torn within a conflict between the Farming/Cattle associations and the Government. Basically, due to the value of the dollar and the large amount of Soy, Grain and Cattle we produce, Exports are at a record High and there is a lot of money to be made.
The Government suddenly applied a 45% tax on exports. Going up from 30%.
That made the farmers flip and started protesting. It's been four months. We've had strikes, highways blocked, massive acts and marches, "cacerolazos", and several speeches from both sides.
The general public is against the Tax, roughly 70%-30% against it. And we've lived pretty tense days with Buenos Aires being literally locked down with pro government marches taking to the streets. (The administration controls large amounts of people. Specially poor people who have no jobs or education. They give them welfare in exchange of support in their acts and speeches. It's sickening.)
The thing is that the administration is pretty corrupt and power hungry. They are VERY snobby and proud and would never back down.
Only 2 weeks ago, after a massive cacerolazo (That's people taking to the streets with Pots and Pans and making noise, walking towards important spots of the city like the Pink House and the President's residence) the president said that she was going to send the law with the Tax to Congress for debate.
Yesterday was the vote. There are 72 seats in our Senate. And the administration thought they had the votes. The vote lasted 20 hours, and at 4am, it came down to a tie. The responsibility fell on the Vice President for a tie breaker. He talked for 5 minutes and asked for a recount. He deemed the decision too important to be left on his hands. They quickly re voted and came to the same tie. So the VP, gave a 10 minute speech about the constitution, justice, politics and the state of the fractured country and how it was time to be united, and said "let history judge me, I can't vote for the law. My vote is No. And may god forgive me if i'm wrong".
The VP went against the president's bill. It shocked the country (and i'm sure it made quite a few headlines worldwide). This was at 4.30 am mind you. People went to the streets to celebrate and cheered.
The president hasn't appeared in public yet. And the VP said repeatedly that he has no intention to quit. That he did what was in his conscience.
It was like a West Wing episode. Such a great moment to see democracy work.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I thought someone would get a kick out of it.
The country has been torn within a conflict between the Farming/Cattle associations and the Government. Basically, due to the value of the dollar and the large amount of Soy, Grain and Cattle we produce, Exports are at a record High and there is a lot of money to be made.
The Government suddenly applied a 45% tax on exports. Going up from 30%.
That made the farmers flip and started protesting. It's been four months. We've had strikes, highways blocked, massive acts and marches, "cacerolazos", and several speeches from both sides.
The general public is against the Tax, roughly 70%-30% against it. And we've lived pretty tense days with Buenos Aires being literally locked down with pro government marches taking to the streets. (The administration controls large amounts of people. Specially poor people who have no jobs or education. They give them welfare in exchange of support in their acts and speeches. It's sickening.)
The thing is that the administration is pretty corrupt and power hungry. They are VERY snobby and proud and would never back down.
Only 2 weeks ago, after a massive cacerolazo (That's people taking to the streets with Pots and Pans and making noise, walking towards important spots of the city like the Pink House and the President's residence) the president said that she was going to send the law with the Tax to Congress for debate.
Yesterday was the vote. There are 72 seats in our Senate. And the administration thought they had the votes. The vote lasted 20 hours, and at 4am, it came down to a tie. The responsibility fell on the Vice President for a tie breaker. He talked for 5 minutes and asked for a recount. He deemed the decision too important to be left on his hands. They quickly re voted and came to the same tie. So the VP, gave a 10 minute speech about the constitution, justice, politics and the state of the fractured country and how it was time to be united, and said "let history judge me, I can't vote for the law. My vote is No. And may god forgive me if i'm wrong".
The VP went against the president's bill. It shocked the country (and i'm sure it made quite a few headlines worldwide). This was at 4.30 am mind you. People went to the streets to celebrate and cheered.
The president hasn't appeared in public yet. And the VP said repeatedly that he has no intention to quit. That he did what was in his conscience.
It was like a West Wing episode. Such a great moment to see democracy work.
Anyways, thanks for reading. I thought someone would get a kick out of it.
