Ibero-American workers are striking or engaging in street protests to denounce the high prices of fuel and food, fuel shortages as well as deteriorating health and education services.
In Argentina, freight truckers are in the second week of an indefinite strike that began in the northern province of Tucuman and quickly spread to the rest of the country to protest shortages and high prices of gasoline, diesel fuel, and food. Truckers are blockading major roads, including roads into major ports such as Rosario and Buenos Aires, disrupting transport of agricultural goods for export—grains, etc. The Port Administration Workers Union (SUTAP) is also involved and announced last week they would block entrance to the all-important Dock Sud in Buenos Aires. The government is worried that if exports are blocked, this will seriously affect the amount of foreign exchange that comes into the country. Harvest in several provinces has also been disrupted.
Charging the government with an inadequate response, this week truckers dug in their heels and are blockading more highways. The Transportation Ministry is now saying that the matter could be resolved “in 15 or 20 days,” when new shipments of gasoline and diesel are expected to arrive that will solve the shortage problem. There was no indication of what truckers are supposed to do between now and then.
In Peru, following the breakdown in negotiations with the Pedro Castillo government, long-haul truckers are in the second day of an indefinite strike, blockading the main highway into the southern city of Arequipa although allowing private vehicles to go through. The strike action is affecting Arequipa as well as the capital of Lima, the port of Callao, and a few other regions of the country. Strikers are demanding a reduction in the cost of gasoline, which they say has increased by 80% in recent months; elimination of a tax on fuel; regulation of tolls; and a number of other demands which they want addressed through executive decree before they will lift the strike, Telesur reported..
About 400,000 truckers of the National Union of Transport Cargo Drivers are striking, and it’s possible that 100,000 drivers of inter-provincial transport—passenger buses—may join them along with 10,000 urban bus drivers in Lima, where a third of the country’s population resides. Peru’s Defense minister has declared a national highway emergency to deploy armed forces to aid the police to prevent blockades of major highways..
