Subect 1: Dardo Chiesa
Role: ex-President of CRA
Place: Buenos Aires
Date: April 12, 2015
Subect 2: Martín Rapetti
Role: Executive Director of FAA
Place: Buenos Aires
Date: July 14, 2015
Annotation
- The issue of resources is raised in these interviews. Moreover, when we attended the two-day monthly meetings and general assembly of CARBAP on July 27-28, 2016, conversations with delegates from local rural affiliates clarified that these meetings, which took place in the City of Buenos Aires, could only be afforded by those with an apartment or relatives living in the city. That was taken into consideration in selecting representatives at the local level.
- The mentioned bill was proposed by representatives Juan Casaña, Lucio Azpiazu, and Jorge Chemes, and was given the number 169 of congressional treatment on November 8, 2011 (No. of file 5463-D-2011). It proposed the creation of a fund for the four national rural organizations: CRA, SRA, FAA, and CONINAGRO.
Interview
Dardo Chiesa
[19:32] Chiesa: “The producer doesn’t pay, the producer monthly fee is nothing, 25 pesos … the rural society lives off those who pay and always someone pays because the rural society approves the certificates of weather emergency and because they need the signature, they pay. There is often a reason why the member has to come to the rural society and if he has not paid his dues, he cannot get the needed signature. Yet, in reality, we live off agreements with service providers, we have Medicus [health insurance], we have Episeguro [insurance], that allow us to sustain the rural society.” [20:12]
Martín Rapetti
[23:00] Authors: “Are you telling me that the main source of income [regarding how they maintain the organization] of your rural societies are the cattle auctions?”
Rapetti: “That’s one of our main sources, that’s why we are promoting with the change in government to have resources not from the state but from a law that takes a fee of the real estate tax or other tax for the rural organizations to be able to sustain our activities, like unions [like professional associations] …” [24:07]
Authors: “Do you have this legal project? May I see it?”
Rapetti: “You can ask Juan Cruz for it [24:22] … [25:55] we don’t have a salary, FAA provides salaries, CONINAGRO as well, and the Rural [SRA] too. I’m not criticizing it as a problem, what we have is that we pay for our expenses. Now we have an agreement with General Motors that provides us with two trucks, one for the president and one for me [26:32] … [26:42] they pay for the gas, but otherwise they don’t pay. When I was president of the regional confederation of Litoral, I drove 70,000 kilometers per year, and the impact on the car and tires? They only pay for the gas, not the rest of the trip or the food. I do it with pleasure and I don’t complain, but that would give us a difference. In the current way only those who can [with means] arrive and those who cannot, don’t make it regardless of capacity. Yet, our organization has no commitment to anyone but to our producers.” [27:17].