The balance left by a day of terror in Cartagena in the midst of the motorcycle taxi drivers’ strike is 27 vandalized Transcaribe buses, two stations with structural damage and twenty people captured.
The stations attacked were Bazurto and Cuatro Vientos, on Pedro de Heredia Avenue, where criminals destroyed glass doors and lockers.
Several corners of Pedro de Heredia Avenue were blocked by burning tires.
At various points, passengers were threatened and intimidated into getting off the Transcaribe service.
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The origin of this social crisis
The mayor of the city, William Dau, announced from the Unified Command Post (PMU) of the National Police, in the Manga neighborhood, that several of the vandals who attacked the transportation system and blocked streets have been identified thanks to the cameras of security.
For 6 hours at various strategic points in Cartagena, pitched battles between police and motorcycle taxi drivers took place, and common criminals took advantage of the chaos to rob citizens and businesses.
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The motorcycle taxi drivers’ union does not agree with the new decree implemented by the District for motorcycle taxi drivers, especially the prohibition of traveling through corridors such as Pedro de Heredia Avenue, the umbilical cord that connects the center with the south of the city. In addition to drastic peak and plate measures, which apply to two daily numbers.
The latest measures of the District are added to the bans on motorcycle grills in neighborhoods such as Crespo, Manga, the Historic Center, and in 12 more neighborhoods, in addition to the tourist area of Bocagrande. In addition to two Fridays a month in which the circulation of motorcycles is prohibited.
Attacks by motorcycle taxi drivers on Transcaribe outrage the country
All this package of measures have been added and have exalted the spirits of the motorcycle taxi drivers who have failed in seven conciliation tables with Mayor Dau, of which both parties have ended up hitting the dialogue table amid expletives from both sides.
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“In the work groups that we had been carrying out since April of last year, we had submitted proposals because we could not give up more routes, and with this new decree it takes away our main work route. We have been fooled and he imposes a decree at his convenience,” says José Antonio Julio Ahumedo, leader of the United Motorcycle Federation of Colombia, Femucol.
Blockades on main roadsBlockages and tire burning in the
Pedro de Heredia Avenue
The Bazurto bus station was vandalized. They also tried to set fire to a system vehicle in Pie del Cerro.
The president of Cartagena defends the measure with figures in hand which show that the robberies and crimes of hired killers, have motorcyclists with barbecues as protagonists by 70 percent. In addition, motorcycle accidents are also on the rise. The last episode was the tragic death of a doctor and a motorcycle taxi driver who died in a road accident.
In addition, the District maintains that behind motorcycle taxiing there are mafias of businessmen who own up to 100 motorcycles who charge 20 thousand pesos a day for unemployed people to work on them and earn a few pesos.
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We ask for a census of the union, that they train us, that we have a card, a uniform, that the District promote order “
This is the portrait of the economic tragedy of a city that seems not to see the gains from economic reactivation and where poverty and informality are the order of the day.
“We ask for a census of the union, that they train us, that we have a card, a uniform, that the District promote order,” adds Ahumedo.
The District itself has said that about 75,000 people support motorcycle taxis in their homes, but for the motorcycle union the figure is doubled.
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Violent clashes between police
and motorcycle taxi drivers on a sad day of unemployment
John Montano
Correspondent of ELTEMPO
Cartagena
On Twitter: @PilotodeCometas
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