The international tunnel Christ the Redeemer – The Liberators It has been closed for 16 days due to snowfall in the Andes mountain range and delays are accumulating to clear the main route that links Argentina with the ports of Chile.
They are about 2,000 trucks who wait in different open-air parking lots or on the side of the road in Mendoza waiting to be able to cross and deliver their merchandise. In that caravan, Thursday morning One of these transporters died from pneumonia, which worsened.
The Brazilian driver Fernando Guccioni Sousa Vieira He had been admitted last Saturday to the high mountain medical center in Uspallata for pneumonia. When his health worsened, he was transferred to the Perrupato hospital, located in the Mendoza municipality of San Martín and with a more complex condition, where he died.
His wife posted a painful farewell message on her Instagram profile. “God granted me the honor of being your wife. You were the best part of me. With you I learned to love and be loved. I love you, Tiburón,” wrote Karla Araujo Guccioni.
The truck driver worked for Marvel and was also remembered on the company’s social media. “It is with great regret that we announce the passing of our collaborator, friend and partner Fernando Guccioni Sousa Vieira,” the post begins.
And the company expresses: “We regret this irreparable loss, with deep gratitude for the opportunity to have lived with Fernando and we are certain that the mark he left on everyone during his time there will never be forgotten. In this difficult time, We express our solidarity with family and close friends.”
trucker fury
Sousa Veira is The second driver died since the International Pass was closed. On Monday, June 17, a Chilean driver died in the Uspallata parking lot. In this case it was reported that he had a heart attack.
Are 200 drivers who have had to receive medical assistancedue to the cold and health complications caused by the precarious conditions they must endure while waiting, since they cannot move away from the load,
On Thursday afternoon there was protests with horns and applause to say goodbye to the deceased truck driver by their colleagues who are waiting in Uspallata, in the high mountain range of Mendoza.
The Aprocam Truck Owners Association denounced that the pace of cleaning on the Argentine side, “is being done poorly and slowly.”
Ricardo Squartini, president of Aprocam, complained because the problem of cuts is something chronic. “Governments pass and they have not had enough political will to solve it. I wonder what they do in Canada or the Nordic countries where it snows almost all year round,” he said.
In a viral post on Tiktok, another Brazilian truck driver recounted the conditions they are living in due to the prolonged closure of the pass: “There are more than a thousand trucks stopped, and I am going to show you what the health conditions are like, with “only four bathrooms in containers, where we take a cold shower.”
When does the pass open
The latest news confirmed this Friday by the Border Coordination authorities is that national route 7 is clear to the mouth of the Cristo Redentor tunnel.
The good weather in the High Mountain area will continue for the next few days, so there are expectations that the border crossing will be enabled this weekend, so that the accumulated transportation from both sides of the Cordillera begins to transit through the Pass.
The permit to transit will be gradual and with conditions. On Saturday it will be enabled for trucks and on Sunday, for all types of vehicles.
The weather in Alta Montaña this Friday presented a temperature of 0° in Uspallata, -4° in Punta de Vacas, -6°C in Puente del Inca and -7°C in the border town of Las Cuevas.
To ensure a rapid opening of the crossing of the mountain range, the Chilean authorities carried out an unprecedented artificial control of avalanches in the town of Los Andes to ensure traffic safety.
It was in the sector known as El Japón, where artificial avalanche control called Helibomb was carried out. This operation, which involved the use of helicopters to detonate explosive charges and cause controlled avalanches, was carried out with the aim of measuring risks and ensuring safety in the area.
