MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Far less Argentines than expected crossed to Chile for the Pope's visit
Overall between January 8 and 12, more than 38,000 people made the trip from the Argentine province of Mendoza to Santiago at the Christ Redempteur crossing Argentine born pope Francis three-day visit to neighboring Chile attracted less of his countrypeople than was expected according to the preparations and border controls. The Argentine Gendarmerie at the Christ Redempteur pass, reported that on Sunday, 4.283 people in 1.995 vehicles crossed to Chile plus another 2.966 faithfull in 77 coaches.
Overall between January 8 and 12, more than 38,000 people made the trip from the Argentine province of Mendoza to Santiago at the Christ Redempteur crossing the most active between the neighboring countries.
“Customs booths operated normally with an average delay of approximately 30 minutes” said the authorities at the crossing, while the Pehuenche pass further south, reported light traffic with a 10/15 minutes delay, according to Chilean sources who have organized a multi ministerail task force for the Pope's event.
“The number of vehicles we were expecting never turned up” admitted the provincial coordinator Nesto Majul at the Christ Redempeteur Pass. “We clearly have been ahead of demand”, he added.
“We organized a deployment thinking in a greater repercusion, but things have been quiet; actually there are more people returning from Chile than heading for Santiago”, said Gendarmerie sources. Mid January is also summer holidays in the southern hemisphere and many Argentines who had spent two weeks in Chile were returning to Argentina.
Furthermore the original idea was to restrict heavy trucks from crossing between 05:00 in the morning and 17:00 in the evening, but given the limted flow it was agreed by both countries to lift the ban and resume traffic.
The international Christ Redemptour pass, 3.200 above sea level in the main crossing between Argentina and Chile and the one through which most commercial cargo is transported. In anticipation of the Pope's visit the customs and control staff was increased to 300, as well as sanitary inspector to 100.
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rules-
-
-
Read all comments“The Pope has refusen to speak on the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela”
Jan 18th, 2018 - 07:05 pm +1http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2017/08/04/0509/01129.html
@Cheshire_Cat
Jan 18th, 2018 - 09:49 pm +1I'm sure I remember the Vatican mediating discussions between Maduro and the opposition a few months ago. Seems like being too critical of him would be counter-productive to that.
Is anyone trying to send humanitarian aid to Venezuela and being blocked? I hadn't heard of that. And what 'subtle cheap shots' has the Pope made at Macri?
Cheshire_Cat, since the site update there's a bug in the comment system so if you include more than one link, it replaces them all with the first. You can get round this by taking the 'http' off the front of all links after the first one.
Jan 19th, 2018 - 12:16 pm +1What's happening in Venezuela does seem pretty terrible, and even worse if their neighbours are offering aid and the government is refusing it.
It does seem odd the Pope still hasn't visited his home country. But CFK was still president for nearly half that time, and he didn't visit then either. As for Milagro Sala, why is she even in prison when she hasn't been convicted of anything yet?
Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!