Farmers are irreducible and want answers from the Government to unblock the borders of the Beja district: Vila Verde Ficalho, Sobral da Adiça and São Marcos.
They were 03,00 hours when farmers on the Left Bank of the Guadiana, the Beja district, they cut the National Highway (IN) 260/IP8, in Vila Verde de Ficalho on the connection to Spain, through the town of Rosal de la Frontera.
This route is the main connection between Portugal, namely Lisbon, and southern Spain, to the important cities of Huelva and Seville, widely used by truck drivers who transport food, fuels and others between the two countries.
Hundreds of tractors and agricultural implements arrived very early to block the EN260/IP8 as a form of protest against the cuts promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture and in an area where the road is narrower, That's where the machines stopped. There are no vehicles traveling in both directions.
One of the faces of the protests is António João Veríssimo, farmer in Beja, which conveyed the desolation in which farmers live: “We are exhausted and have no income. With the cuts 35% promoted by the Government, agriculture is unviable. Then the agreement with Mercosur is added, which is a shame, why raise an ox in Brazil, It’s not the same as in Beja or Serpa”, finished.
Álvaro Mendonça and Moura, President of the Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP) who is not present at the protests, said that “we have every sympathy with these protests and they signify the discontent that is spreading throughout the sector”, justified.
Urged to comment on the words of the CAP president, António João Veríssimo was quite tough and caustic: “after the slow march in Beja, We went like lambs after CAP and the result was null. We are members of CAP, but we don't see ourselves in their positions. Not looking at a protest like this is bad. CAP assumes its responsibilities”, concluded.
Beyond the border of Vila Verde de Ficalho, the secondary borders of Sobral da Adiça were also closed, municipality of Moura) north of Rosal de la Frontera and south of San Marcos, Serpa county, when connecting to Paymogo.
Despite the presence of the GNR, no incident was recorded and farmers promise not to budge, without guarantees from the Government in accessing their demands.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
