In the chats where the farmers' protests are brewing: “Our goal is to paralyze Madrid”

The cell phone of Ernesto Izquierdo de Frutos, a 22-year-old farmer, vibrated two weeks ago. It was a message with a link that directed him to an unknown WhatsApp group. He entered it and saw that there was talk of the possibility of going out to demonstrate, taking advantage of the fury of the French countryside, which took to the roads of this country in mid-January. When the group defined a date for his town, Vivar de Fuentidueña, a Segovian town of 32 inhabitants, he did not hesitate to go. His father, he explains, has manifested himself all his life. Now it was his turn to do it.

Like him, thousands of farmers have taken to the streets organized outside professional agricultural groups and following the instructions of WhatsApp and Telegram groups that now have more than 3,000 members. In a Telegram channel called “Spanish Livestock and Agriculture”, hundreds of messages from farmers from all over Spain converged since early Tuesday, when the first closures on Spanish roads were reported. Some users asked if a meeting was taking place in their autonomous community to go support it and others indicated where they could go with the tractors. In the chat of the Community of Madrid, within this Telegram channel, one could read: “First objective, take the M-40 from the first hour of the morning. You are free to go out whenever you want. The more together, the better, the more unstoppable.”

Although not all the messages were intended for the organization of new tractor units. Hundreds of videos and images arrived from all over Spain. Some with contradictory messages. “With three tractors we have managed to close Valencia,” shared a farmer who sent attached a video showing the rolling machinery crossing a road. Minutes later, a user responded: “The fact that Valencia is under siege is a lie, I just entered the city without a problem.”

Another frequent element in the groups on this platform were videos where Lola Guzmán appeared, whom several farmers point out as the leader of several of the calls. Guzmán heads the newly formed 6F platform, which is contrary to the 2030 Agenda, which sets the EU's sustainable development goals. Vox has also been against this plan and has proposed “ending that damned 2030 Agency that is suffocating us.” The Platform in Defense of Transport, which blocked the transport of goods in spring 2022, has also given its support to farmers and has announced protests for this weekend.

Protests throughout Spain

The protest is escalating not only in the streets, but also in Telegram and WhatsApp groups. One of its members, Izquierdo de Frutos, tells this newspaper that he has joined the lines of tractors that rolled to Valladolid this Tuesday with the intention of closing the city's main wholesale market, Mercaolid. “We are going to stay here until they feel the lack of fresh products,” says this farmer, who has been driving a tractor since he was 13 years old and who says he has stocked up with enough resources to last as long as necessary.

In the chats you could read equally blunt messages. “We are going to paralyze Madrid with transportation and we are going to paralyze the economy through the ports, which is where the merchandise arrives.” The demonstrations managed this Tuesday to keep access to the port of Malaga blocked and also tried, without success, to take the port of Algeciras. “Don't send WhatsApp groups, they will report them and take them down immediately,” warned a Telegram chat user. “We are safer here.”

The threats warning of a potential blockade of Madrid have been the most heard throughout the day. “Our intention is to take over the institutions, but not in a violent way,” shared Xaime Da Pena, legal manager of the 6F platform, who explained in one of those chats that the group plans to persist until the sector “is heard.” “On Saturday, transportation and fishing will be mobilized to paralyze the city,” he assured.

Several farmers in this group also expressed their discontent with the Agrarian organizations (Asaja, COAG and UPA) that have also announced demonstrations starting Thursday. They claim that these groups lack the will to protest on behalf of the countryside. “We are a group of brave people who have come to dismantle these agricultural unions that live off the membership of farmers and ranchers and do nothing.” The first demonstrations of these three organizations are scheduled for Thursday in Ávila, Salamanca, Ciudad Real and Huesca. While those of Unión de Uniones, another organization, are scheduled for this Wednesday in León and Castellón.

The demands of the chats go beyond the petitions against European agricultural policy and defended that their protest is not motivated by political interests. “We are not from the right nor are we from the left, we are the ones from below,” they read on Telegram. Meanwhile, other messages warned: “We are going to return to Ferraz.”

Follow all the information Economy and Business in Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter

_