Government and transporters reach agreement to lift truckers’ strike

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced on Friday that the transport workers’ strike has been lifted, putting an end to more than four days of blockades on the country’s main roads.

“We have resolved the truckers’ strike faster than expected and in the best possible way,” the Colombian president wrote on his social media account X.

On Thursday evening, Colombian Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo said after several hours of meetings with the strikers that the government had “reached the limit” in its proposals to end the strike, criticizing the lack of willingness of the transporters to give in and lift the blockades.

In this context, the Colombian government reported that an agreement was reached with truckers, which includes an increase in the price of a gallon of diesel of 800 pesos (about 19 cents), divided into two parts. The first increase will be applied starting in September, and the second, on December 1.

“We reached an agreement with the union members and with the various representatives who participated in the protest. We will modify the resolution that established an increase of 1,904 pesos and, from there, gradual increases of 400 pesos will be implemented until December,” declared the Minister of Transport, María Constanza García, to the media on Friday morning.

Since Monday, September 2, Colombia’s main roads have been blocked by a strike by transporters expressing their dissatisfaction with the rise in fuel prices, particularly diesel, the price of which increased on Saturday, August 31 by 1,904 pesos (about 46 cents).

After four days of strikes, several cities, including Bogotá, began to notice an increase in food prices due to the blockades, with a decrease of approximately 55% in the tons of food arriving at the capital’s collection center.

Finally, the parties announced that technical dialogue tables will be set up to define the remaining increase in the price of diesel, of approximately 5,200 Colombian pesos (1.25 dollars), which must be completed in 2025 to cover the fiscal deficit, according to statements by the Colombian Finance Minister, Ricardo Bonilla.

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