Despite the march carried out by transporters last Friday, the government of President Gustavo Petro, head of the Ministry of Finance, issued a decree confirming that the price of diesel would rise by 1,904 pesos in Colombia. The measure came into effect on August 31.
The transporters, faced with this measure, They decided to go on strike to protest against the increase in diesel and have blocked in the last few hours some of the main roads in Bogotá and the territory, since in six departments, Boyacá, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Santander, Meta and Cesar, there are road closures.
Jorge Ignacio García, president of the Colombian Confederation of Transporters, spoke exclusively with and confirmed that last week they presented a proposal to the Government to avoid this increase in the diesel fuel. He also indicated that Minister Ricardo Bonilla told them that he was going to show it to President Petro.
However, he said that they never received any kind of response from the Colombian head of state, who – without showing his face – signed the decree that established that the price of diesel in the country would be on average 11,360 pesos, depending on the variations reported in the different cities.
“Technical studies were carried out for more than a year, in addition to 13 technical meetings. We told the minister not to raise the diesel price, as it was counterproductive for the country. We insisted that it was not the time, that we had to wait for the economy to recover,” initially stated.
Then he sentenced: “The last thing Minister Bonilla told us was that he was going to speak with President Petro and he did not deliver the message. However, the Government’s message was to issue that decree announcing the increase in diesel fuel, which is why we decided to turn off the engines.”
The leader of the transporters took advantage of the conversation with this media to point out that the objective of the suspension of their work as a form of protest was never to affect the citizens and admitted that the strike has now “gone out of control.”
“What we are seeing is the reflection of a dissatisfied community. What is coming is not good at all, that is the reality. We truck drivers do not block roads, but the situation has grown and many people have decided to protest in this way. We do not have control over the entire transport population.”he concluded.
President Petro, for his part, spoke out, as usual, on his official X account about the vehicular chaos that is taking place in various regions of the country, and sent a message to the truck drivers, indicating that the country will not give up.
