Merchants from the Colombian city of Ipiales held a demonstration near the Rumichaca bridge. They demand a quick opening of the border.
IPIALES. Colombian merchants expressed this Wednesday (December 1, 2021) their discomfort at the decision of their Government and that of Ecuador to maintain the close the border As a result of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, despite the fact that it was announced last month it would reopen on December 1 for the first time in a pandemic.
Colombian President Iván Duque announced Tuesday that the border reopening it was postponed until the 15th of this month and shortly after the Ecuadorian Government confirmed the decision, as a preventive measure against the threat of the new variant.
The reopening, for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, was to take place today based on a joint resolution reached two weeks ago between the Ecuadorian president, Guillermo Lasso, and the Colombian president, Duque.
Today the General Secretariat of Communication of the Ecuadorian Presidency recalled that on the 15th only the common border will be opened “for the transport of heavy cargo of merchandise.”
The closure of the Rumichaca bridge, a common land border, provoked reactions from a group of merchants in the Colombian city of Ipiales, who staged a little protest in the international pipeline, where there were government representatives, whom they accused of having made fun of the people.
The manifestation It caused numerous international cargo trucks to be paralyzed for two hours in the terminal, although the authorities enabled the activity as it has been carried out during the pandemic; that is, through the transshipment of drivers: the one who stays in Ecuador must deliver the heavy vehicle with its load to another in Colombia, and vice versa.
The vice ministers of health of Ecuador and Colombia, in addition to the mayor of Ipiales and the Governor of the Ecuadorian province of Carchi, today inaugurated a binational day of anticovid vaccination in the Colombian border city of Ipiales, as a symbolic sample of what the reopening access.
The mayor of Ipiales, Luis Villota, said that the process seeks to accelerate the percentage of vaccinated, which has already reached 80%.
For his part, the Vice Minister of Health of Ecuador, José Ruales, stated that his presence in the border region was intended to verify progress in the face of the opening: “We are a kind of outpost to create the conditions for the rest of the sectors such as commercial, transport and mobility to be in a safe way” he expressed.
Meanwhile, discontent was evident in the commercial premises of Ipiales as the vendors waited for the opening from the bridge and preparing the Christmas campaign, sales that are now lagging behind.
Ipiales was in pre-pandemic times a pilgrimage point for Ecuadorians eager to buy products of all kinds at a good price, given the exchange rate difference between the dollar in Ecuador in relation to the Colombian peso.
The leaders of Colombia and Ecuador announced that the process of reopening of the dividing line will be developed in phases, and for the moment they detailed that on the 15th of this month the transit of heavy goods transport in both directions will be allowed. EFE
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