Truckers block roads in Chile protesting fuel price hikes
The government proposed a bill to cap weekly fuel-price increases at 20 pesos a liter as truckers demand relief from higher diesel costs.
- On Monday, President José Antonio Kast announced a bill to cap weekly fuel price increases at 20 pesos per liter for 90 days, as truckers staged nationwide protests on Tuesday.
- World diesel prices have surged about 80% since before the international conflict that lifted oil prices, straining transport operators and prompting demands for government intervention on fuel costs and tax burdens.
- The state fuel-smoothing scheme cost 1.1 trillion pesos from August to October, with 860 billion pesos directed to diesel subsidies, demonstrating the fiscal strain of current policy.
- Protesters are demanding measures to contain fuel prices, changes to the MEPCO fuel-price stabilization mechanism, and modifications to the tax burden on truckers, while a cruise ship canceled a port stop in Iquique due to disruption risks.
- Congress must vote this week before a 40-peso price hike takes effect on Thursday, though critics say the cap arrives too late; no one has specified what happens after the 90 days expire.
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67 Articles
Santiago. Several freight unions from different regions of Chile began yesterday a stoppage of activities that includes roadblocks and access to ports, in demand for reductions in the price of diesel oil, which in the course of this year increased almost 70 percent, and whose average price is one dollar 60 cents per litre.
This is not the first time that the government of José Antonio Kast has faced citizen discontent over fuel.
From dawn, the transporters gathered at different points on Route 5, which crosses the country from north to south, to demand measures to compensate for the escalation of diesel, the fuel most used by the sector. Its average price rose by 74% from March in part by the war in Iran. The rise threatens the viability of small and medium-sized transport companies, according to the guilds. "I have nothing left but to stop the truck, not to continue wo…
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