Ranchers Visited the El Tinto State Center and Dismantled the Lies of Masismo.

A group of ranchers, parliamentarians visited the state confinement center El Tinto, located in the municipality of San José de Chiquitos. The committee aimed to verify the production costs of livestock in these facilities. What  they found was an abandoned infrastructure, without livestock and with evident deterioration.

The confinement center was inaugurated in 2016 during Evo Morales's administration. At that time, the project was conceived to improve livestock production in the region. However, the inspection revealed the total absence of livestock, overgrown weeds, and fallen fences, which caused indignation among the producers.

Klaus Frerking, president of the Eastern Agricultural Chamber (CAO), criticized the state of the facilities and questioned the lack of government management. According to him, instead of promoting production, the place is completely abandoned and without livestock activity. "Here the only things being raised are grass, weeds, and snakes", he remarked.

Walter Ruiz, president of the Santa Cruz Livestock Federation (FEGASACRUZ), described the center as a "ghost infrastructure". He later denounced that the government has accused them of increasing meat prices while their own projects fail. Additionally, he added that the lack of support for producers and the lack of clear policies harm the sector.

One of the main reasons for the visit was to learn about the State's production costs to compare them with those of the private sector. This sector has been harassed by pressures from regime authorities in recent weeks. However, the lack of livestock and personnel at the site prevented obtaining this information.

According to the ranchers, this finding demonstrates that the masista regime doesn't have real figures on livestock production. This shows that the Government is unaware of how ranchers carry out their activities. Despite this, masismo tries to impose harmful restrictions on the private sector.

Ruiz emphasized that, in the last nine years, only a thousand head of cattle have been moved in the confinement center, an insignificant figure compared to the two thousand cattle slaughtered daily in Santa Cruz. This confirms that the state project has been a resounding failure.

What happened to food security?

Another problem affecting the sector is the diesel shortage, which forces ranchers to resort to the black market to maintain their operations. Ruiz warned that without sufficient fuel, meat production is at risk, which could affect the supply of the domestic market.

From the Government, the state-owned Bolivian Agricultural Production Company (B-Agro) denied that the confinement center is abandoned. Its manager, Ramiro Villarpando, assured that productive activities are being developed there, such as soybean production and embryo management. However, this version was refuted by the ranchers through images showing that there is no evidence of production at the site.

In this regard, economist Luis Alberto Alpire warned that the recently imposed meat export restrictions by the Government discourage production and could generate a crisis similar to that of corn and rice. In his opinion, the real problem lies in the lack of incentives and the absence of policies that strengthen the production chain.

The livestock sector faces a difficult outlook with fuel supply problems, smuggling, and export restrictions. In this situation, producers demand concrete measures and policies that boost production instead of hindering a key sector for the national economy.

The ranchers reiterated their commitment to production and the transparency of their costs. However, they warn that if the regime doesn't take effective measures to solve the sector's crisis, meat production and supply in Bolivia could be seriously compromised.