La Paz faces a day of protest with 60 blockade points and lack of supplies

The drivers of the Chuquiago Marka Union and the Free Transport of La Paz confirmed the 24-hour strike and blockade of the “thousand corners” for today due to lack of fuel and in demand of the adjustment of public transportation rates. More than 60 transport unions from the Government headquarters will join this measure. While, The La Paz Mayor’s Office announced that it will intensify control to avoid an increase in public transport fares.

The mobilized unions will go out to block the streets due to lines at service stations and demand the dismissal of the directors of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) and Bolivian Fiscal Petroleum Yacimientos (YPFB).

In addition, they demand the leveling of passages and ensure that the spare parts and maintenance of their vehicles increased by 100%.

Limberth Tancara, leader of free transportation, justified the measure due to the “poor distribution of fuel” since last week, which prevents the normal work of drivers who spend hours in lines.

“One day we stand in line, another day we work, that is, we work 50% in the week, it is not possible. Unfortunately we are disadvantaged, without fuel we cannot work. “We prefer to go on strike rather than stand at service stations without working,” Tancara remarked.

According to the unions’ call, the blockades will begin at 5:00 a.m. and the protest will last, at least initially, 24 hours. All members must attend “mandatory”.

The blocking points total more than 60 and will be carried out throughout the Government headquarters and it is also planned to close all entrances to the city of El Alto. All areas of the municipality of La Paz, from north to south, will have at least one blocking point, according to the instructions that circulate on social networks. The protest will even reach the Río Abajo sector.

In an attempt to stop the drivers’ measure, the mayor of La Paz, Iván Arias, yesterday called the transportation sector to a dialogue to analyze the leveling of fares; however, The meeting did not take place and the authority said that “it will respect the strike” and they will meet only tomorrow with the mobilized unions.

We have agreed that we will respect your strike and on Thursday (tomorrow) I will wait for you to listen to their demands, give them my point of view, the only thing I have asked of them is that they do not violate the city, we understand their situation, but understand the people, “Thousands of us are having a bad time,” Arias told the La Paz media.

The director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Germán Jiménez, also called on the union to talk, but the transporters did not attend. However, a representative of the sector explained that the appointment was at 11:00 and When they arrived, no one attended to them, so they decided to leave and break any possibility of dialogue.

In the city of La Paz, service stations have had long lines of vehicles since Friday and many only sell Premium gasoline.

For a few days now, residents of the southern zone have reported that many transporters take advantage of the fact that there is little transportation to raise the price of tickets, claiming that they have long lines to fill up with fuel and that only Premium gasoline is sold.

According to Mayor Arias, 60% of the vehicles that circulate in La Paz do so with CNG and that fuel is not in short supply, therefore, there is no reason for the increase in fares, he said.