Peruvian Freight Carriers Go on Strike

On Monday, Peru's freight transport unions announced the start of an indefinite strike since they failed to reach agreements with President Pedro Castillo's administration on Sunday.

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Previously, the Unions asked Castillo to implement policies to deal with the increase in fuel prices, include freight transport as a public service, and combat the "unfair" competition from Ecuadorian and Bolivian carriers at the borders.

Peruvian freight transporters demand that their requests be addressed through executive decrees before lifting their national strike.

On Sunday, Martin Ojeda, the director of the National Land Transport Council (CNTT), announced that interprovincial truckers and passenger carriers were also joining the protests called by cargo carriers starting June 27.

The tweet reads, "In response to the strike, the Economy Ministry (MEF) promises freight carriers an energy bonus. Due to the implications for tax revenue, however, the MEF is against extending tax exemptions to diesel and 84 and 90 octane gasoline."

This announcement implies that some 10,000 buses are also joining the protest in Lima, a city where a third of the Peruvian population lives.

"Urban carriers also believe it is necessary to go to a strike because it is impossible to continue working with a fuel that has risen more than 80 percent in recent months," said Ricardo Pareja, president of the Chamber of Urban Transport, as reported by El Comercio.

"No union has the right to keep the country in turmoil, to block roads, much less to threaten to burn vehicles," Interior Minister Dimitri Senmache said in response to rising social unrest.