Page Seven / La Paz
A few hours before Christmas, the drama of the Bolivian transporters who are still standing on the border with Chile continues, who denounce that they are unaware of the help for new Covid-19 tests and its validation with those taken by officials from the neighboring country.
It has been a week since the controls to enter the neighboring country were tightened. Up to 39% of Bolivian drivers who were tested for nasal antigen tested positive for Covid-19, despite a PCR test before traveling.
The carrier Leonardo Quispe reported that yesterday from Tambo Quemado to the town of Lagunillas the line of trucks stretched for more than three kilometers, due to slow control at the Chilean customs post.
He added that some carriers he crossed paths with were returning to Bolivia because they tested positive for Covid-19. “We do not know about the commission that the Government announced that it would send to take tests and validate them with those carried out by Chilean personnel,” Quispe said.
He added that the tests that the carriers took before leaving are valid for 72 hours, but because of the lines at the border, trucks must wait up to four days and drivers arrive at the site after the deadline. Travel expenses run out for many.
Gustavo Rivadeneira, president of the El Alto Chamber of Heavy Transportation, reported that the problem still has no solution and the lines persist.
“The validation of tests was done for a while and the Health delegates are no longer there, who is going to stay at the border in so much cold and close to Christmas,” lamented the leader.
He pointed out that it is necessary to have a border committee with representatives of the two governments to solve not only this problem of greater control over the health issue, but others.
He added that carriers daily encounter the intransigence of Chilean officials who control immigration, customs and police issues, among others.
Rivadeneira acknowledged that some drivers may have presented falsified PCR tests, but the Chamber urges them to follow all procedures correctly.
Quispe indicated that the Ministry of Health should monitor the laboratories.
