After a failed first agreement, the Government resumed talks with the leaders of the truckers who remain mobilized in various parts of the country to demand greater security and lower fuel prices. However, although there was confidence that the strike could be ended today – which has already been extended for six days – the second meeting did not bear fruit either and the strike continues for now.
“The colleagues have decided to keep waiting for the Government to react and that, as in many programs, many expenses that it has, it can somehow create an expectation of a solution to give a little push to these colleagues who are bankrupt today, that they don’t have how to turn on their machines,” said Freddy Martínez, leader of the Biobío truckers, after the confidential meeting that was held at the premises of the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications.
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According to what was expressed by the leaders, the point that traps the negotiations is the reduction in the price of fuels, since, according to what they indicated, the Executive did not accede to their requests. They were proposed to freeze the price of diesel for three months and inject an additional 1.5 billion dollars into MEPCO. But, there was no agreement. And there is no confirmed date for a new meeting between both parties.
As confirmed by the Interior, the negotiations continue, so any spokesperson will be made once the talks are finished.
Martínez pointed out that “what we are trapped in is that fuels are frozen and have a discount for four months so that a mechanism is prepared, but the Government refused.”
For his part, Cristián Sandoval, president of the Fuerza del Norte Truckers Confederation, added that “we no longer have the capacity to continue operating, that is why you understand that we are not unemployed, we are in a work stoppage.” . In this sense, Sandoval addressed the risk of shortages, ensuring that “there is no city that is blocked, there is free transit.”
The Presidential Delegate of Valparaíso, Sofía González, carried out an assessment of the highways the day before due to the truckers’ strike. In this regard, she pointed out that there are no cut routes or supply problems in the region.
It is worth mentioning that the president of the National Cargo Transport Confederation (CNTC), Sergio Pérez, had assured that he was confident that this day an agreement would be reached between the unemployed truckers and the Government, with the aim of putting an end to the mobilization.
Let us remember that in the first instance the Confederation of Transportistas Fuerza del Norte arrived at the Ministry of Transport on Friday afternoon to talk with the Government about the strike that began on Monday. At the meeting, the truckers reached an agreement with the Executive, for which they were going to stop the mobilization during the afternoon. However, the complaints under the State Security Law filed against some of those mobilized caused the agreement to finally fall down.
Until this Friday, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve, confirmed that 31 complaints of this type have already been filed, which has so far meant the arrest of 16 people in the framework of the demonstrations (11 by State Security Law). , of which 8 have occurred in Coquimbo; 4 in Arica and Parinacota; 2 in Antofagasta; 1 in Tarapaca; and 1 in Ancud.
Interior reported that there are still 49 outbreaks where trucker mobilizations are registered, 2 less than the previous report (Las Cabras and Copiapó). Of the total number of conflictive points, in 46 the trucks are next to the berm, while there are three sources where there are “partial cuts.” Carabineros is normalizing traffic.
On the other hand, the undersecretariat updated the progress of the supply plan deployed by the Government, indicating that Carabineros has already escorted between 130 and 140 trucks from the Metropolitan Region and Valparaíso to the north, the most complicated area due to the lack of products.
