José Miguel Masís, director of the Chamber of Fuel Distributors, confirmed that due to the constant blockades by protesters, there are serious problems with the supply of fuel in various areas of the country, mainly in the provinces of Guanacaste and Puntarenas.
Whoever threatens to burn a cistern is not a protester but a terrorist,”
said the representative of the chamber.
(The strikers) have achieved the purpose of blocking the supply, at times there is support from the authorities to get the tankers through, but the situation is getting complicated.”
Masís knows the province of Guanacaste is the most affected by the shortage, where sometimes all the products are missing, or the fuel is late. He added that there are several areas of the Greater Metropolitan Area that also have problems.
According to the Chamber, operating costs have doubled since the strike and they have had to incur extra expenses due to blockades.
For example, a cistern that transports fuel costs about 400 thousand colones in a normal day, but with these problems the costs practically doubles, without counting the fact that we have to pay extra hours, feed the guys, so it’s a very complicated issue, for now the motto is to supply even if the costs are doubled,”
said Masís.
The Chamber calls on the government authorities to be more agile, because although they maintain the determination to continue working, they have seen a shy government to end the blockades.
On Sunday, the Chamber of Fuel Transporters communicated they would restrain all the transfers due to the bad conditions the drivers are facing when they spend long hours without sleep and without the basic services. Given this, Masís said they do not support that position and, fortunately, not all transporters are members of that organization, so they hope to continue with the supply.
The blockade that has caused the most damage is that of Barranca, Puntarenas, where the strikers opened the transit every four hours for 20 minutes. The Police Intervention Unit had to go to lift the demonstration, but the situation keeps repeating.