Cargo carriers demand government road guarantees due to constant blockages

The constants roadblocks in the countryproduced protests led by different sectors of citizens and the economy, have affected a large part of the economy, especially freight drivers, who are the first to suffer from this situation.

This is how the Federation of Freight Transport Entrepreneurs (Fedetranscarga)in a statement sent to the national government, given what happened this week in San Vicente del Caguan, where the community blocked a highway rejecting the exploitation of an oil well belonging to the company Emerald energy.

Due to these events, the union demanded that the executive take concrete steps to engage with the said groups of protesters so that the blockade of roads in the country is stopped, as well as to accept an end to the protests and avoid tragedies.

Guarantees for drivers

According to press release from FedetranscargaThey demanded from the government that cargo carriers across the country continue their service without fear of being attacked or their vehicles, as well as not being victims of roadblocks.

The organization called for ensuring “the safety of drivers, equipment and freight, the practicability of roads, defining the best working conditions within the sector without encroaching on the entrepreneurial initiative and the employment stability of workers”.

These are the basic conditions that members of the sector demand to continue their work, to avoid the acts of violence that have occurred in other demonstrations, where some vehicles have been incinerated and placed in such a way that they do not allow the passage of other vehicles.

“Stimulate business development”

Another point that Fedetranscarga has requested from the government for freight drivers, is a project that allows the sector to move forward, as far as taxes are concerned.

He explained the entity that should be taken “fiscal measures that stimulate business development and that all government decisions are not aimed at withering what we have built in two hundred years of history, but rather at continuing to move forward towards a better future for all of us for the benefit future generations”.

Only blockades since the start of the Petro government

A tricky question that Fedetranscarga addressed was that in the past seven months there have only been protests on the country’s highways, that is, how long Gustavo Petro’s government has been in place.

“We haven’t had a single day since possession where a path hasn’t been blocked by those who claim to hold the right to social protest, a figure that rulers have instituted by their permissiveness, in one of the most great problems of public order that he has not been able to solve to the detriment of the interests of all Colombians”the organization assured.

They also criticized the security policy promoted by the executive: “Before thinking of benefiting criminals of all kinds with prosecuted judicial figures to avoid resolute penal sanctions for the crimes committed, legislation must be enacted in favor of those of us who, day after day, with our work everyday, let’s build a flourishing Colombia.”

Meeting of the Ministry of Transport

During this Friday, the Guillermo Reyes, Minister of Transportheld a meeting with the leaders of the transporters’ union in Medellín, to hear their concerns and create a common program to solve the different problems that the sector presents.

“In this space, we talk about the safety and condition of the country’s roads. The idea is to move forward with the working groups that allow the consolidation of the transport sector as the engine of the Colombian economy,” said the head of the ministry.

Present at the meeting were representatives of Colfecar, Defencarga, ATC, AVA, Fedetranscol and CCT.