Truckers get sex for soya
2008-05-15 09:12
Buenos Aires - An Argentine mayor complained on Wednesday that truckers are stopping outside his town and paying for sex at illegal brothels with sacks of soya beans.
Brothels are outlawed in Argentina, but thrive in the country's interior masked as bars, commonly known as "whiskerias".
"We have this social and sanitary problem" on the road leading out of town, said Norberto Bergami, mayor of General Roca, a town of some 2 600 located 420km north of Buenos Aires.
"We all know that the truckers stop and pay with loads of soya."
"The owners take that soy and sell it on the black market," Bergami said.
Bergami said he did not have the authority to operate beyond the city limits.
A truck driver carrying a load of 30 tons of soya has a margin of error of up to three percent upon delivery - so the driver could illegally unload up to 300kg of soya along the way.
The mayor's complaint comes as Argentina is in the midst of a clash between grain farmers opposed to stiff new export taxes.
Ninety percent of the 47 million tons of soya harvested in the 2007-2008 season is destined to export, according to government figures.