Fuel truckers to strike Tuesday

Costa Rican fuel truck drivers plan to withhold gasoline from local gas stations across the country on Tuesday. The move is a response to a government decision not to renew permits for 100 older model fuel trucks.

Reynaldo Quirós, spokesman and president for the Drivers’ Association, said the protest is aimed at the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications Ministry (MINAET), which he said “has not tried to help us to find a solution to this problem.”

He said that statements from MINAET that “there will be no shortage of fuel at service stations because many of them have their own trucks” are inaccurate. Gas stations’ trucks are not allowed to enter the National Oil Refinery’s facilities, he said.

Quirós said they have been working on extensions of the permits for two years, but new rules allow them to keep working no matter how old trucks are, as long as they meet certain safety conditions.

“Our trucks are not time bombs on the road as MINAET officials have recently claimed in order to alarm the public,” Quirós said.