Peru paralyzed as transport strike broadens

Morning commuters walk because mini-buses refuse to operate during a partial transport strike in Villa el Salvador shantytown Lima, Peru on Wednesday

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- Peruvian truckers, joined by urban transport workers, crippled port shipments and threw Lima into chaos on Wednesday as they completed the first week of a strike to protest sky-high oil prices.

Bus drivers around the country walked off the job on Wednesday, joining truckers who have blocked major highways, ports and refineries, choking off fuel and food supplies since last Wednesday. Lima bus drivers also stopped work on Monday.

Workers started the blockades when international oil prices hit 10-year highs last week. They are demanding officials eliminate a fuel tax of up to 42 percent and lower highway tolls. They said the strike will persist despite a drop this week in oil prices.

The government said it cannot lower taxes which are needed for its tough austerity drive and the transport ministry said on Wednesday it refused to negotiate with workers until they call off the strike.

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Lima's gas stations, many of which shut down at the weekend as they ran out of fuel, reopened on Wednesday after the government managed to break through a line of trucks earlier this week blocking the country's main refinery.

But ports remained paralyzed. Cargo movement at Callao, which is responsible for 70 percent of Peru's imports and exports, has dropped dramatically since the strike began. Truckloads of zinc and fish meal for export, among other products, have fallen by more than 95 percent, the National Ports Company told Reuters.

Thousands of Peruvians in Lima and other cities were forced to walk to work on Wednesday and others scrambled to board the few buses still running, causing major gridlock and stalling business around the nation.

Police have been sent out to prevent clashes between striking workers and truckers and bus drivers who tried to skirt the work stoppage.

The strike has put mounting pressure on President Alberto Fujimori who is embroiled in the biggest political crisis of his 10 years in office. After a video aired on television showed Fujimori's right-hand man allegedly bribing an opposition lawmaker, the president said he would call new elections in which he will not run.

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