Brazil army clears blockades
Temer orders troops to remove truckers barricading roads in protest
Brasilia: The government raised the stakes in its tense standoff with striking truckers, ordering troops onto the streets to clear huge blockades that have left much of the country paralysed.
Brazil’s economic capital of Sao Paulo declared a state of emergency, the auto industry shut down, gas stations ran out of fuel and dozens of flights were cancelled on the fifth day of the protest on Friday.
The truckers have attempted to put a stranglehold on movement of goods in Brazil to protest fuel price rises.
They blocked main roads in much of the vast South American country that has only limited rail services and where 60% of goods are transported by road.
The truckers pressed on with the strike despite an agreement announced by the government with union representatives late Thursday to call a 15-day suspension.
President Michel Temer announced in a televised address on Friday that he had “mobilised the security forces” to clear the roads – a move criticised by Amnesty International as “impermissible”.
“We are not going to permit that the population does not have access to essential goods ... that hospitals do not have the necessary medicines to save lives,” he said in a televised address.
“We accepted the 12 main demands of the truckers, who agreed to immediately end the blockades. Unfortunately, a radical minority continues to block the roads.”
Defence Minister Joaquim Silva e Luna vowed the army “will act in a rapid, coordinated and robust manner ... to free traffic in the critical areas” such as at refineries and airports.
In a joint statement, the leaders of the main unions slammed “the government’s decision to use the army as an instrument of repression” and “try to use gasoline to put out a fire”.
But the Abcam union, which represents some 700,000 truckers, called on its members to withdraw the blockades, voicing “concern for the safety of the drivers”.
In a press conference later on Friday, public security minister Raul Jungmann said 45% of the blockades had been cleared, but over 500 remained.
The mayor of Sao Paulo had earlier declared a state of emergency to allow city authorities to “seize private goods such as fuel, for example, that is stored in a service station”.
Exports were also badly hit as the strike forced the auto industry, which employs some 132,000 people, to close down, because factories were unable to receive supplies.
The airport in the capital Brasilia cancelled 30 flights as it ran out of fuel.
The company that manages the country’s airports, Infraero, said 10 others have also exhausted their fuel supplies, including that of Recife in the northeast.
The strikers are protesting increases in fuel prices – the result of a politically sensitive decision made in late 2016 to allow the staterun Petrobras oil giant autonomy to set its pricing, as well as a rise in world prices in recent weeks.