Argentine leader urges farmers to lift strike

By Helen Popper

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez urged farmers on Thursday to call off a strike and start talks to end two weeks of protests that have paralyzed exports and left meat counters bare.

Fernandez is under mounting pressure to resolve the strike, which has seen middle-class Argentines protesting in the cities to support the farmers in scenes reminiscent of the political crisis that rocked the country in 2001/02.

The center-left president struck a defiant tone in a speech to supporters and said the strike amounted to extortion, although she also urged farmers to start talks.

"The government's doors are open but please, lift this strike for the sake of the people," she said, defending the taxes on soy exports that triggered the protest as a way to share the spoils of soaring global grains prices with Argentina's poor.

A more strident speech by the president earlier this week inspired farmers to dig in their heels with the protests, but the immediate response from some strike leaders on Thursday appeared more receptive.

"This is a call to good sense, it's a call for negotiations in a tone very well suited to calm this situation. In my opinion, this opens the dialogue," said Hugo Biolcati, vice president of the Argentine Rural Society, one of the farm groups leading the strike.

But at several road blocks protests across the country, farmers vowed to stay put.

"The fight goes on, I think we have to carry on and not ease up," said Alfredo de Angelis, an Agrarian Federation leader in Entre Rios province.