Eight
leaders of the Colombian truckers’ union ACC, including the newly appointed president Pedro Aguilar, were detained by police on the Cali-Buenaventura highway.
Nemesio Castillo, a board member of the ACC, said the detentions were ordered by Police Commander General Gustavo Adolfo
Ricaurte, without any explanation. He said the truckers were intercepted by police while traveling in two vehicles.
“It was if they had mounted an operation to capture the worst offender
in Colombia,” he said referring to the large group of soldiers present when the truckers were detained by authorities.
Castillo told Terra that he did not rule out that the incident was a retaliation by the government to the truckers’ union’s refusal to
end its strike.
The commander of the
traffic police and transport, General Luis Alberto Moore, denied that the truckers had been detained against their will.
He said they had been detected promoting the strike on the Cali-Buenaventura road and had voluntarily gone to the police station sign an accord agreeing taht they would not react with violence against any drivers who preferred to continue
working.
He stressed that the truckers were at the police station voluntarily and without pressure.
Caracol Radio maintains the detainees are still on the premises of the Cali metropolitan police and claim that their detention is unjustified.
General Moore said that the military will continue to monitor the roads to
ensure the safety of truckers who are not on strike.
