Chile truckers extend strike to protest fuel prices

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Truckers across Chile said late on Wednesday they would continue their national protest against high diesel prices, potentially restricting the movement of goods to local and export markets.

Thousands of Chilean drivers started what was meant to be a 48-hour strike on Tuesday, parking their trucks along national highways in protest of soaring fuel prices.


“We’ve decided to continue to strike indefinitely,” said Javier Lazcano, a leader for truck drivers in Rancagua, a mining and agricultural city south of the capital Santiago.

“The reason is because we have received no official communication, nothing concrete and clear, from the government to persuade us to desist from the protest.”

Demand for diesel in Chile is skyrocketing as the energy-poor country enters the Southern Hemisphere winter amid cuts in natural gas imports from Argentina. Chilean electricity generators have been forced to shift to diesel.

Reuters