First modification:
The truckers’ strike in Chile completed five days without giving in to its claims and in the partial occupation of the country’s main highway, through which practically all of the national cargo is mobilized.
The truckers’ strike in Chile reached its fifth day, partially occupying the country’s main highway, through which the entire national cargo is mobilized and generating a new challenge for the government of President Gabriel Boric.
The transport sector demands better safety conditions on the roads and a reduction in the price of fuel, while alerts grow about the shortages that the blockades are generating in some parts of the country.
Representatives of supermarkets and large businesses warned that shortages will begin to be noticed over the weekend if the movement does not stop. Some gas stations in the north of the country began to complain about lack of fuel.
The work of cargo drivers is vital in Chile, a country with a narrow geography, because it mobilizes around 95% of merchandise, such as food, construction materials, machinery and the like.
The products are mobilized through the 3,300 kilometers of Route 5 or Pan-American, which connects the country from north to south.
The truckers union is made up of more than 40,000 workers, of which 30,000 are carriers of small and medium vehicles. The truckers who have joined the paralysis of the roads are from the north of the country, although there are also from the center and south.
President Gabriel Boric warned that he will act “with all the force that the law grants us” if the blockade of the highway persists. The warning adds to the presentation of more than twenty complaints against truckers under the State Security Law, which establishes sentences for these cases that range from 61 days in jail and can be extended to 540 days.
The carriers are demanding the fixing of the value of a liter of diesel for six months, an end to the weekly fuel increases and greater security on the roads where, they say, robberies and assaults have increased, as well as the installation of “zones of rest” on the route.
But the government describes the demand as “disproportionate” and affirms that freezing diesel values for half a year would cost about 2,500 million dollars.
Transportation strikes in Chile have a huge impact on the economy, as there is no alternative to land transit.
with PA
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