October 26, 2022, 22:23 PM
October 26, 2022, 22:23 PM
The mobilizations against the indefinite strike that takes place in Santa Cruz, in rejection of Supreme Decree 4760 that postpones the Population and Housing Census until 2024, has intensified this Wednesday with the blockade of the entrance to the sanitary landfill of the Solid Waste Complex, located in San Miguel de los Junosand at the gates of the Palmasola refinery of Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).
Two fences on the road to the Junos, led by social organizations related to the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), caused the collection trucks to be stranded on the road, with 1,700 tons of waste without being able to unload them in the new landfill, generating a danger to the environment due to the odors that are given off.
Andrea Hoyos, manager of Emacruz, described these measures as an attack on public health and that blocking landfill doors generates enormous damage.
“This has forced us to stop operations at the San Miguel de los Junos Complex.. It is an extremely strong blockade, to the point of not letting the landfill workers through and we have the entire fleet of trucks stranded, they are not letting any type of waste enter,” the manager denounced at a press conference.
He indicated that although the cleaning teams continued to work with the collection of household waste in the indefinite strike with certain difficulties in reaching the established routes, the service had not stopped, but Now the situation is complicated by the fence.
“With this total blockade that is taking place right now, the city will have 1,700 tons of garbage in the streets tomorrow. This greatly affects the entire municipality of Santa Cruz. Counting from the smells, proliferation of vectors and other difficulties that will be arising in the city due to this action, we ask you to reconsider”, exhorted Hoyos.
Faced with this situation, the head of Supervision of the Solid Waste Complex, Fernando Cáceres, said that only 40% of the staff was able to reach the landfill, so the tasks there have been affected.
He also explained that during the four days of indefinite strike that the city has experienced, 5,022 tons of solid waste were collected, but now the tasks have been seriously affected.
Blockade also in the refinery
The journalistic team of EL DEBER arrived at the gates of the refinery in Palmasola where they found that several tank trucks are stranded, which has caused a shortage of fuels in the department of Santa Cruz.
Juan Carlos Ramírez, transporter, reported that his truck has been his temporary home these two days, where he has slept and sheltered from the dust, given the blockade that persists in the place.
Ramírez was unable to remove the fuel from the refinery for two days.
“Here we supply ourselves to survive, although we are used to trucks, but not in this way, we don’t know when we will be able to load. We eat food with dirt,” he said.
While Don Antonio, who had to load fuel and go to Portachuelo, has been stranded at the refinery for three days, he denounces that the YPFB authorities do not explain both to him and to 14 drivers when the conflict will be resolved.
“They do not give us an explanation of anything, the roadmap expires and again we have to do the paperwork. We are locked up, we have nothing to eat, dirty, without money and at the tip of coca“, he expressed.
