Wheat growers hold peaceful protest in the Eighth Region

CHILLÁN.-  Beginning at 9:00 AM this morning, hundreds of wheat producers initiated a peaceful protest in the courtyard of the IANSA-owned “Cocharcas” plant, located 12 kilometers to the north of Chillán along Ruta 5 Sur.

More than 500 people are currently participating in the protest and are being guarded by about one hundred officials from the Special Forces unit of the National Police.  There are close to 150 production machines at the site, as well as trucks, tractors and harvesters.

UDI senators Víctor Pérez (of the Eighth Region) and Hernán Larraín (of the Seventh Region) also attended the demonstration.

The protest continues at the private premises after the Ñuble Government prohibited the event from being held at the San Nicolás intersection along Ruta 5 Sur, where a previous demonstration had been staged that caused traffic at the time to be interrupted for a period of five hours.

According to the president of the southern agricultural plant, Fernando Serrano, the initiative was adopted after prolonged conversations with the government up until last night failed to yield a solution with regards to the foremost demand of the growers.

The demand was that Cotrisa pay domestic producers the same value they pay for imported wheat.  Currently, imported wheat is bought for an average of $19 thousand pesos while domestic wheat is purchased for $12,500 pesos.