:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/I4YND4P6MBBGPLBBWRWEVJJG3A.jpg "Hugo Ospina revealed the reasons why he did not support the taxi drivers' strike 1")
On the afternoon of February 21, 2023, leaders of the taxi drivers’ union in Colombia announced that they would take to the streets to protest against rising fuel prices and illegal transport hubs. For Hugo Ospinaknown as one of the representatives of the taxi drivers’ union, his colleagues should not have led the strike against President Gustavo Petro, since in his first six months he benefited taxi drivers.
Minister of Transport to taxi drivers: “we have cranes and assignments in the event of a blockade”
The country’s taxi drivers have announced a general strike for February 22. They express non-compliance with fuel prices and the lack of regulation of mobility platforms
For Ospina, his position of not supporting the strike has nothing to do with the demands of his fellow drivers, the problem was that they directed the strike against the President of the Republic and the Minister of Transport for not fighting against illegal transport in Colombia.
This was revealed in an interview for Weekin which he assured that he had not supported the strike “not because they were not fundamentally right”, but for not having directed the strike against the authorities who inspect, control and monitor illegal transport in the country, which is the mobility mayors and secretaries.
Hugo Ospina assured that the strike of February 22 had a political connotation
The taxi drivers said the strike could be indefinite and could therefore be lifted at any time or extended even longer than planned. On February 21, they will meet the Minister of Transport, Guillermo Reyes
Regarding President Petro, Ospina said that the measures taken by the President during his first six months in office have benefited taxi drivers, such as the 50% reduction to pay the Compulsory traffic accident insurance, SOAT.
Among the advantages Ospina points out are also the elimination of peace and savings so that taxi drivers can change companies; as well as the removal of the stamp on the fare card, measures that have relieved the pocket of motorists in the country.
Gasoline prices will continue to rise and transport platforms will not be banned: Guillermo Reyes
El gremio de taxistas anunció que commenzarían paro de transporte del 22 de febrero de 2023, esto debido a la falta de garantías por parte del Gobierno nacional en temas como el alza en los precios de la gasolina y las plataformas de transporte ilegal en Colombia
Regarding the transport platforms, Ospina assured that they are already legalized and that at least 24 of them are already providing the transport service in the country, the problem is that the platforms cannot use private cars to provide the transport service.
“There is absolutely nothing to legalize or promote here, what the platforms must do is provide service in taxis, and the owners of private vehicles, keep their cars in their garages”, assured Hugo Ospina. Week.
According to Ospina, drivers of platforms like Uber, Picap or InDriver get in trouble for providing a service that does not correspond to them, but vehicle owners and drivers do not know that they are breaking the law.
“In the last meeting we had with the mobility secretary of the district, I told him what the Council of State said, the Court of Cundinamarca and what the Penal Code says. It turns out there are a lot of drivers stalling, Uber drivers and platforms are in trouble and they don’t know it,” Hugo Ospina said.
The problem, as Ospina explained to Weekis that although transport platforms assure drivers that if they issue a subpoena they bear the associated expenses, the precedent is already before the traffic authorities, so if the driver reoffends and says he was carrying a familiar, the subject may be Complicate.
“It turns out that the Penal Code says that when you deceive a public official to benefit from a judicial or administrative procedure, you go to prison. It’s called procedural fraud and they’re going to start prosecuting the rig’s drivers,” Ospina said.
Therefore, for Ospina, the discussion goes beyond the fact that there are transport platforms in Colombia, the problem is that some of these applications provide their service through private cars and motorcycles.