Road blocks lifted as Colombia reaches deal with striking truckers

For days, truckers had blocked roads in protest against the end of COVID-era fuel subsidies, snarling transport.

Truckers in Colombia have reached a deal with the government and agreed to lift a five-day road blockade, according to President Gustavo Petro.

The deal, announced on Friday, is aimed at assuaging concerns about Petro’s decision to end diesel fuel subsidies introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Truckers unions had argued the removal of the subsidies would be devastating to their businesses. Their decision to block major thoroughfares in protest led to fears about food and supply shortages in Colombia’s metropolitan areas.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, has maintained that the phase-out is necessary to counter a widening budget deficit and to boost funding to education and healthcare.

The agreement — reached in the early hours of Friday — indicated the government would gradually implement a slightly lower increase in fuel costs by the end of the year.

“We have resolved the truckers’ strike faster than they thought and in the best possible way,” Petro wrote on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

The truckers’ protest began after the government had imposed a 50-cent increase per gallon (3.8 litres) on diesel fuel on Saturday. The demonstrations intensified on Tuesday, with truckers blocking roads around the country.

Police reported 120 permanent blockades. The action snarled traffic, forcing many people to walk or cycle to work. It also prompted warnings of food stocks running short.

Petro, a former rebel and activist who came to power in 2022, initially struck a defiant tone, saying he would not allow unions to “block” the country.

Diesel fuel subsidies cost the Colombian government about $240m each month, paid out to the state oil company Ecopetrol, according to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.

The standoff developed as the ministry was preparing to present a tax reform plan to Congress that would seek to raise government revenues by $3bn next year.

That would come in the form of increases to wealth taxes and taxes on personal income that does not come from wages. The government has also said it plans to increase some sales taxes, including on hybrid cars and online betting.

Petro has sought to boost spending on social welfare programmes, causing the government’s annual budget to balloon by 30 percent in his first two years in office.

Last year, local and regional elections saw the defeat of many left-wing candidates, something critics interpreted as a rebuke to Petro. Many of his wide-ranging reforms also continue to lag amid ongoing scandals and opposition in Congress.

Local media on Friday broadcast images showing truckers honking their horns in victory as they unblocked roads across the country.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies