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Post by jabberwocky on Jul 14, 2016 10:00:10 GMT -5
Read on a FB posting that this is beginning to cause problems - stores are running out of staples ( like toilet paper!) Has anyone heard or seen the same?
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Post by tubes on Jul 14, 2016 10:10:47 GMT -5
Lots of places are reporting big increases in fresh food prices and shortages as a result of the ongoing truckers strike. The area around Boyaca seems to be the worst affected with road blocks and violent protests.
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Post by papitohead on Jul 14, 2016 11:21:08 GMT -5
Read on a FB posting that this is beginning to cause problems - stores are running out of staples ( like toilet paper!) Has anyone heard or seen the same? Here is a replacement:
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Post by dandl93 on Jul 14, 2016 11:46:01 GMT -5
This week and next week is are Fair I just came back from town and seen lots of trucks delivering. Three semis of Beer was coming into town for the wharehouse. It is a easy way for the stores to raise the prices every time some one goes on strike usally 4 or 5 times a year.
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Post by redriver on Jul 14, 2016 11:55:28 GMT -5
No shortage in Rionegro. Have noticed people stocking up on rice, cooking oil and sugar at Jumbo store.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Jul 14, 2016 12:14:56 GMT -5
No shortages in Sabaneta but the two Exitos at Aves Maria and Mayorca malls have been busier than normal so perhaps some stocking up is going on.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Jul 14, 2016 16:13:43 GMT -5
Colombia to militarize highways after angry truckers block roads After 37 days of failed negotiations between the Colombia’s government and truckers, frustrated truck drivers began blocking roads and the government ordered the military to take action. The truckers have been on strike for 37 days already, demanding the government complies with promises made earlier that would alleviate the transporters’ dire economic situation. However, as talks resulted in nothing, the increasingly frustrated truckers began blocking roads this week while truckers who do not wish to join the strike allegedly have been threatened. As a result, truckers began blocking major highways in at least eight of Colombia’s 32 departments. The strike had already caused troubles at Colombia’s largest port city, Buenaventura, where containers for exports are either not reaching the docks and imported containers have been unable to travel land inwards. However, the road blocks also paralyzed transport, preventing basic food supplies to reach the country’s main cities like Bogota and Medellin. As a consequence, food prices are up 15% compared to this time last year In Medellin, food prices have soared as much as 66% and in Barranquilla the main food supply center said they were running out of vegetables and fruit. In the central Meta provinces, food prices at the warehouses have gone up as much as 200%. The government has so far been unable or unwilling to appease the strikers. Amid the escalation of the strikes, The prosecutor General ordered the arrest of strike leaders and President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the military to deploy as many as 13,000 soldiers to free up the roads, increasing fears the strikes could turn violent. One person has reportedly already died in clashes with riot police in Boyaca, one of the areas most affected by the strikes and roadblocks. See: colombiareports.com/37-days-strike-began-frustrated-colombias-truckers-begin-blocking-roads/"In Medellin, food prices have soared as much as 66%" Where??? What??? Provide some examples if this is true. I haven't seen price increases for anything or any shortages.
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Post by papitohead on Jul 14, 2016 18:06:05 GMT -5
Farmers who sell only locally will benefit for all their crop will be sold and at a little higher price.
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Post by youngman on Jul 14, 2016 18:17:44 GMT -5
My dentist today told me that he is building a house and there is no cement right now....and chicken feed is not being delivered....to biggies here in Colombia
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Post by suba on Jul 14, 2016 18:37:04 GMT -5
Not noticed any difference in Bogotá yet.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2016 19:07:54 GMT -5
I just checked the history of prices in Corabastos, the wholesale market of Bogota (http://www.corabastos.com.co/sitio/historicoApp2/reportes/prueba.php), and prices don't seem to have risen much compared to 2 months ago.
In my neighborhood, didn't see much of a difference either, except for a pound of chicken breast, that I am now paying 6,500 against 6,000 like 2 weeks ago.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2016 10:05:54 GMT -5
Almost 40 days of this. Saw on the TV this morning that the government is starting to get proactive. Police and military units are mvoing stalled trucks. I've noticed increased prices in some produce and meat products. Earlier this week, I went to Exito in CC San Nicolas Rionegro... no tomatos or citrus fruits. Yesterday, the bins were stocked with everything. As with many things, it's the common folk who feel the pain, and not the government or perpetrators.
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Post by papitohead on Jul 15, 2016 10:20:40 GMT -5
Any word of when this may end? Any talks? I am not familiar with this because I am not there now, but soon will be for a few months. I don't want to go for 4-5 or even 6 months and be a victim of this problem.
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Post by sedelen on Jul 17, 2016 19:29:19 GMT -5
Had a hard time finding sugar at any of the Exito's recently.
Found some at a place called "De Uno"
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Post by suba on Jul 17, 2016 22:18:07 GMT -5
The government claim it's all back to normal. We'll see.
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Post by flynnflanagan on Jul 18, 2016 12:44:28 GMT -5
My dentist today told me that he is building a house and there is no cement right now....and chicken feed is not being delivered....to biggies here in Colombia I raised chickens at one time for egg and meat production. There is not much that they won't eat, including another dead chicken.
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Post by livinginmedellin on Jul 18, 2016 13:21:00 GMT -5
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Post by coolcoil on Jul 18, 2016 19:19:29 GMT -5
Things are much better here in La Ceja. We had one of the traffic circles where the truckers were gathered and blocking the passage of other trucks. That's now been cleared out. According to my wife most of the shops are largely restocked. Though nobody was in danger of starving, there were some items unavailable, like chicken. We had been to the point where we were going to make a trip into the city to stock up on stuff.
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Post by scumbuster on Jul 19, 2016 6:53:05 GMT -5
Why Colombia’s truckers are angry For the 13th time in 15 years, Colombia’s truckers went on strike. This time, things have gone violent. Here’s why. The truckers are primarily angrily because, according to the protesters, the government has allowed multinational transport companies to flood the country with trucks. The abundance of foreign trucks has virtually eliminated tens of thousands of local truckers’ ability to make a living they way they were able to before. Large transport companies would be able to cover losses for an extended period of time, but individual truckers can not and they are afraid they are purposely being run out of business by the multinationals. The truckers fear that the government policy is similar to those in cities where small bus companies have been pushed out of business by public-private mass transit corporations, often in hands of foreign corporations or local elites. According to the truckers, the Transport Ministry even illegally granted 50,000 trucking licenses to befriended companies. But things are more complicated like that. According to the strikers, the government has also been in the process of privatizing the maintenance of highways, leaving the charging of freight tolls to private enterprises. While these private companies do charge toll, they pocket profits without investing income in road maintenance, the truckers say. The truckers are additionally angry that the government has consistently raised fuel prices when crude oil prices went up, but is refusing to lower gas prices now that crude oil is low. According to the striking truckers, clauses in a controversial free trade agreement with the United States are at the root of what they consider the “monopolization of the economy.” Farmers, who carried out strikes earlier this year, also revolted against this free trade agreement that has plummeted exports to the US and has driven many into precarious economic situations. The farmers, whose strikes overlapped those over the strikers for a few days earlier this year, have expressed their support for the truckers and blame the government of refusing to attend the strike and instead violently repressing the protests. So far, at least one protester died when a tear gas grenade, fired by riot police, hit his head. The government initially claimed the protester could have been manipulating explosives. colombiareports.com/why-colombia-truckers-strike/
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Post by scumbuster on Jul 22, 2016 19:20:02 GMT -5
Colombia Truckers’ Strike Ends after 45 Days BOGOTA – Colombia’s government and truckers’ representatives reached an agreement early Friday to bring an end to a 45-day strike that had led to roadblock-triggered supply shortages and left one dead and several injured. “The immobilization of cargo transport promoted by the four organizations (who organized under the slogan) ‘National Crusade for Truckers’ Dignity’ is over as of this moment,” Transport Minister Jorge Eduardo Rojas said at a press conference. The agreement, signed in the wee hours of Friday, maintains the so-called “libertad vigilada” regime, whereby freight costs go up or down based on supply and demand but are monitored by the Transport Ministry, which can intervene if necessary. The government refused to return to the previous system of minimum fixed tariffs, as truckers had demanded, but it agreed to update benchmark prices for freight so they reflect truckers’ true operating costs. A one-for-one scheme for replacing old trucks with modern ones also was kept in place with the aim of “reducing oversupply,” the agreement stated. The executive-director of the Cargo Transporters’ Association, Luis Orlando Ramirez, said the agreement “has a structural philosophy that values trucking activity in Colombia.” The strike was launched to protest the government’s alleged non-compliance with issued related to fuel, toll and freight costs. The situation was exacerbated when the blockade of a highway near the central city of Duitama led to a July 12 traffic accident that left Boyaca Gov. Cesar Andres Amaya Rodriguez and several of his aides seriously injured. A protester identified as Luis Orlando Saiz died hours later in that same town after being struck in the face by a teargas grenade hurled by riot police. Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas also said this week that 31 police officers were injured, two of them seriously, during the strike. President Juan Manuel Santos responded to the roadblocks by imposing heavy fines and canceling the registration of vehicles used in the disruptive protests. The blockades led to shortages of food and basic necessities in some regions, prompting the government to organize 2,452 caravans – made up of 40,000 vehicles escorted by members of the army and National Police – to get supplies to their destination. www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2417125&CategoryId=12393
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2016 20:38:24 GMT -5
In other words, local truckers are against economic liberalism and are asking for regulation.
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Post by coolcoil on Jul 23, 2016 9:31:20 GMT -5
In other words, local truckers are against economic liberalism and are asking for regulation. This is always the reaction of existing players in overpriced/poorly served regulated markets when faced with prospect of competition. Taxis vs. Uber. Major airlines vs. low cost carriers back in the 1980's. US Postal Service vs. Fedex. Your local cable company vs. all other sources of internet/television service. Lawyers vs. automated legal services. Elevator operators vs. push-button operation (New York City used to have a law that required elevator operators - back in the 1970's it was not unusual to get on an elevator and have to tell the operator which button to push for you). This list goes on and on. Since we had a road block set up here in La Ceja, I got to see a cross-section of the active participants in the strike. Almost every truck parked was terribly outdated. Many of them were outdated when I was a young truck driver thirty years ago. They get horrible fuel mileage. I can't imagine what it costs to maintain them. Further, many of them were small, so the cost of the driver per ton moved must be astronomically high. There are trucking companies with modern fleets, and these guys are making money and almost none participated in the strike. I feel sorry for these little guys. Trucking is a capital-intensive business, and there is no getting around that. I understand that they don't have a lot of options. I've been there. My family had a thriving business for sixty years, but my Dad chose not to invest and to just assume that the economic landscape would never change. One of the saddest days of my life was attending the auction where the last of the equipment was sold off. Not one truck or bulldozer was less than 15 years old. Any economic analysis about Colombia will tell you that the biggest structural obstacle that the country faces is high transportation costs. Much of that is geographical, of course. But it does not make sense to pile uneconomic regulation on top of that. Further, these outdated truck jeopardize the rest of us. Even if they are well-maintained (not likely) they spew multiple times the pollution of modern trucks. They are unsafe as well. During my career, I drove trucks built in the early 60's up to the late 80's. The difference in braking capability was night and day - I could never imagine trying to descend these mountain roads in the 1963 Mack Thermodyne that I drove when I was 18, yet I have seen that same model truck descending the hill from Las Palmas to Poblado. It was moving at a crawl, of course. I got away from it as quick as I could, because I knew that driver's control of the truck was hanging by a thread.
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