Truckers continue to blockade diesel price hikes after failing to reach agreement with government

Cargo and bus transporters protested on Wednesday on Colombia’s main roads with Blockades against a recent diesel price hike and after failing to reach an agreement at the negotiating table with the national government.

“Everyone is asking for one thing: to reverse the increase, to repeal it,” he told The Associated Press Juan Carlos Bobadilla, general secretary of the Colombian Truck Drivers Association, who is participating in the negotiations that resumed on Wednesday.

The government on Saturday ordered a price increase of 1,904 pesos ($0.50) per gallon of diesel, the first of three it plans to increase to $1.50 per gallon by 2025.

However, the measure proved unpopular and has since led to permanent and intermittent blockades on main roads and at the entrances to capital cities such as Bucaramanga, Cúcuta and Bogotá, where 13 protest points were recorded on Wednesday.

The transporters have warned that they are willing to protest indefinitely until they reach an agreement that favors them, while the government has remained firm and has asked them to lift the blockades and continue the negotiations.

“People on the roads do not agree (with lifting the blockade), they realized that the increase was too high and not sustainable, it is not enough for them to live on,” explained Bobadilla, who said that the protest has been joined by “popular support” from those who have vehicles that use diesel without being unionized.

The increase is part of a plan implemented by President Gustavo Petro’s government to close the deficit in public finances that has been created over the years in the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund, with which the government covered the difference between the value of fuels in the country and the international price of oil.

For more than four years, the price of diesel has remained frozen and the government says it cannot continue to bear the price difference. Petro said that if the money does not come from diesel consumers, it would have to come from the national budget, sacrificing social programs that it has to implement.

The day before, the prosecutor’s office announced in a statement that it had opened an investigation into 36 blockades that were recorded in the country due to the “risk that these actions may represent against public health and the food security of citizens.”

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels YouTube, WhatsApp and the newsletter. Activate notifications and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.