Wrong comparison result in python - json

Question

I'm trying to compare a date from a JSON extract and a date in a CSV file.
Even though I print both and dates and type are the same, the comparison always says they are different when there aren't.
I've already tried many things but nothing worked.
the line comparing is
if (item_in["Data_Hora"].encode('utf-8')).strip <> Last_Date[1].strip:
Here's the full code:
import json
import requests
import csv
import os
import itertools
def get_last_row(In_file):
with open(In_file,'rb') as f:
reader = csv.reader(f)
lastline = reader.next()
for line in reader:
lastline = line
print type (line)
return lastline
params = {
'api_key': 'tz-XmMtuYEVeeRjIdk6cqW1z',
}
r = requests.get(
'https://www.parsehub.com/api/v2/projects/tw5xOi-cVrMG-_vAZC_cX1QX/last_ready_run/data',
params=params)
json_object_in = r.content
data_in = json.loads(json_object_in)
for item_in in data_in["Estacao_Pluviometrica"]:
if item_in["Regiao"] != "Santa Felicidade": #Santa Felicidade possui duas Estações, excluida do processo enquanto não conseguir diferencia-las
# Altere abaixo com o diretório onde ficarão armazenados os arquivos "{diretório}/%s.csv"
Path = "/tmp/csv2/%s.csv" %item_in["Regiao"]
if os.path.isfile(Path): # Checa se já existe um arquivo para a região / Check if file already exist
OutFile = open(Path, 'a+')
Last_Date = get_last_row(Path)
# Check if last date is igual to actual - Error is here - comparison is always different even though data is the same.
if (item_in["Data_Hora"].encode('utf-8')).strip <> Last_Date[1].strip:
print "Nova entrada para %s" %item_in["Regiao"]
fieldnames = ["Regiao", "Data e Hora", "Chuva (mm)"]
CSVFile = csv.DictWriter (OutFile, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=',', lineterminator = '\n')
CSVFile.writerow({"Regiao": item_in["Regiao"].encode('latin-1') , "Data e Hora": item_in["Data_Hora"] , "Chuva (mm)": item_in["Chuva_mm"]})
else: # When entry is the same as before
print "Entrada repetida para %s" %item_in["Regiao"]
OutFile.close()
else: #caso não exista, se cria um novo arquivo / In case there's no
print "Criando novo arquivo para regiao %s em %s." % (item_in["Regiao"], Path)
OutFile = open(Path, 'w')
fieldnames = ["Regiao", "Data e Hora", "Chuva (mm)"]
CSVFile = csv.DictWriter (OutFile, fieldnames=fieldnames, delimiter=',', lineterminator = '\n')
CSVFile.writeheader()
CSVFile.writerow({"Regiao": item_in["Regiao"].encode('latin-1') , "Data e Hora": item_in["Data_Hora"] , "Chuva (mm)": item_in["Chuva_mm"]})
OutFile.close()
I'm using Python 2.7.10 and IDLE
Thanks.