David Vigario MERIDA

MERIDA

Updated Thursday, February 8, 2024-02:07

The second day of massive tractor-trailers in Spain raised the decibels compared to the opening day on Tuesday, whose impact took everyone by surprise, including the Government, but the number of participants decreased. Yesterday, the protests were not so massive nor were so many highways blocked as the

State Security Forces and Corps expressly prevented it in many provinces, already with the express order to impose high fines

. Yesterday's mobilization has no dialogue with the Government.

The civil platform - calling itself independent - directed the movements towards large capitals, ports (attempted blockade with barricades in Castellón

)

and logistics and communication centers (

Jerez

airport ). The ultimate goal is to paralyze the entire country. The greatest incident occurred in

Barcelona

, ​​with some two thousand tractors advancing along the highway to the Catalan capital, which caused major delays throughout the day.

In the afternoon, the Catalan president,

Pere Aragonès

, and the Minister of Climate Action,

David Mascort

, held a meeting for an hour and a half at the Palau de la Generalitat with a delegation of protesters to listen to their demands. During the meeting, Aragonès offered the protesters to leave their tractors parked on the streets of the Catalan capital until tomorrow morning, so that they can make their way back in broad daylight.

The situation contrasts with the lack of dialogue between the Central Government and the 'independent' platform that is organizing the protests throughout the country. On Tuesday, the leader of said movement, the Valencian

Lola Guzmán

, requested a direct dialogue with the Minister of Agriculture,

Luis Planas

. But he, in the Senate, and with questions from journalists, clarified: The Government maintains dialogue with agricultural organizations because "it is the only way to move forward."

Supply markets are also in the sights of the mobilized farmers. Until yesterday, no incidents had been reported, but after the first 48 hours of road blockages, loss figures are already emerging: truck drivers' associations estimate that

80,000 heavy-duty vehicles were affected

and the food industry and supermarkets reported incidents and delays in their centers. logistics.

Added to all this is that the first arrests arrived yesterday. It was in Santa Fe (Granada) when

six protesters were arrested

due to clashes with the Civil Guard. Other farmers, as in the case of Murcia, who kept several accesses to the main cities of this community and logistics centers blocked in the last day and a half, decided to abandon the pickets to "gain strength" and resume the protest in the coming days. At this time, the entire strategy of Platform 6F, led "with more force than ever" by the Valencian cattle rancher Lola Guzmán, has set

the entry of Madrid on Saturday as its main objective.

To do this, it has the National Platform for the Defense of the Transport Sector, which is not the majority either, but which was involved in the 20-day strike in March 2022 that put distribution in Spain in check. According to the Valencian, the fishing sector is also going to join them. The intention - as expressed yesterday by the WhatsApp leadership group of this current - is

to culminate the tractor rally on Ferraz Street

, the national headquarters of the PSOE: "You have to hold out for two more days, we are going to a national strike, it is the only way for them to listen to us," Guzmán warned. Some see this decision as confirmation that this movement is politicized and directed, although the rancher herself, a former Vox activist, denies this time and again. And she sends this message for Saturday: "You are not going to have enough National Police or Civil Guard to stop us."

As the weekend arrives, the way is clear for the traditional agrarian organizations, which are the ones that have the official representation of the agrarian world won in the elections. ASAJA, UPA and COAG, in unity of action, will go out this Thursday hand in hand in

Ávila, Salamanca, Ciudad Real and Huesca

, the authorized and legal starting signal for their mobilizations that will practically have tractors on the streets of all of Spain. consecutively and daily until February 27 in

Córdoba

. Their time has come and they face the challenge of continuing the pulse of the protest, since the fuse has already been lit. In many cases, the Protestants will be the same ones who have also been on the tractor these days because the problem is common, and many have already come out spontaneously: "We are farmers who defend farmers. Therefore, our utmost respect and consideration goes to all those who are with their tractors in squares and roads today," COAG points out.

Basically, there is concern about the drift of the parallel demonstrations of the "independents", who are already branded as anti-systems, while they defend that results are already being collected. As examples in the last few hours, "

Brussels' shelving of the phytosanitary regulations and Pedro Sánchez announcing the reinforcement of the Food Chain Law

, with the call of the Observatory on this matter for next Wednesday."