Page Seven / La Paz
Between 500 and 800 trucks with Bolivian export cargo and containers remain stranded on the border with Chile since Friday because they cannot enter neighboring territory, because at least 200 drivers tested positive for Covid-19, according to nasal antigen tests. .
The drivers say they traveled with PCR tests 72 hours before that were negative. That border point is closed and snow is falling.
In the Tambo Quemado pass, transporters suffer from inclement weather and with resources and food that are already exhausted because for these trips they must go and return within three days. “Today, Monday, December 20, we are all the colleagues who supposedly tested positive. As you can see, they are with containers, minerals, there are fellow tankers, there is everything. Let’s see if our heavy transport leaders and Foreign Ministry authorities can see this situation, the truth is that the injured party is the carrier, we are orphans, no one says anything for us, we are on our own, “said one of the carriers, through a video that he sent.
He points out that “supposedly” the rapid test is positive for COVID, despite the fact that the PCR test taken before the trip is negative. “There are any number of parked trucks and the colleagues are facing inclement weather, it’s a shame. I am sending this video for the knowledge of our government authorities and leaders who have not yet spoken, ”he lamented.
Nelson López, a tanker driver, told Página Siete that, of the 60 trucks that entered the premises in one day, only five managed to pass, since the rest would be infected with Covid-19. “At least 500 trucks are stranded because there are three to four kilometers between the compound and the border with Bolivia and the line is from a Lagunas town,” he said.
He added that in his case they give him travel expenses for four days to go and come back and now he is injured without being able to pass. “I transport gasoline and diesel from Arica, I enter empty and load in Chile, but now I cannot enter. The tests are not good, only 10% of the trucks have been able to pass, so there are long lines. Hopefully the authorities can intervene ”, he specified.
Other drivers also expressed their annoyance because some even returned to Bolivia, underwent one more PCR test, returned and the nasal antigen test in Chile came back positive.
“Chungara Complex in milestone, are all the colleagues who supposedly tested positive for covid, there are about 80 trucks, we are worried,” said a driver at the site.
Ángel Lima, another transporter and former leader, reported that 500 to 800 trucks are stranded. This is because around 200 drivers tested positive for nasal antigen.
He explained that these carriers are punished for 15 days to enter Chile and the truck cannot return for another seven days with another driver.
However, he said that some drivers returned to Bolivia and returned with another negative PCR test and the system at the border post detected them and punished them for 30 days. He added that the Tambo Quemado border with Chungara now remains closed by decision of the Chilean authorities.
“It’s strange because on Sunday 50 drivers entered the venue and 50 tested positive and in a second round of 40 another 25 tested positive and today (yesterday) 100 were rejected. But a Chilean official also tested positive, “he said.
Página Siete agreed to the nasopharyngeal swab test with the antigen test method of Teofilo Heriberto Pillco Velarde, performed in Oruro at the Tambo Quemado Hospital Hospital and which gave a negative result (see photo).
But another SARS-CoV-2 antigen test carried out on the same person at the Chungara Border Complex Sanitary Customs of the Seremi Public Health Department of Health Arica and Parinacota gave the Bolivian driver a positive result.
The Vice Minister of Foreign Trade and Integration, Benjamin Blanco, reported that the Government of Chile has been asked to verify the reagents used in the tests. “We are asking that they can verify the reagents and procedures, because in an untimely way we have a large number of positives and it is not reasonable that a third of carriers have Covid-19,” he said.
