Truckers plan a demonstration in the early hours of Thursday on some of the main roads in the San Juan area to voice their discontent over high diesel costs and demand government action on public policies that make their work more expensive. Juan Carlos Torres of the Nuevo Frente de Transportistas Unidos said the protest was called in solidarity with a truckers’ strike that was reported to be happening in the United States.
Speaking to Noticentro on WAPA-TV, Torres said diesel is a worldwide problem affecting both Puerto Rico and the U.S., and that a number of local issues also force truckers to raise their voices and take to the streets. He noted that increases in electricity costs affect all citizens and denounced what he called 'excessive fines’ constantly imposed on truckers by the Police and the Negociado de Transporte y Otros Servicios Públicos.
Torres stressed that truckers move everything in the country, from food to construction materials, and that an alternative must be found so they can keep working. The demonstration will begin on PR-22 in San Juan and then move toward the Capitol. Another trucker group, the Frente Amplio de Camioneros, reported last week that there would be no truckers’ strike in Puerto Rico in early October.
At the time of publication, there was no confirmation of a nationwide truckers’ strike in the United States.