The Church reported that National Roads charged him a fee of $560 thousand for making the historical procession to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loretolocated in the town of the same name, in Missions.
The city is one of 37 in the Jesuit Missions circuit, formed by the evangelizing Reductions carried out by the Society of Jesus 400 years ago in what is now the Argentine province, part of Paraguay and southern Brazil.
As explained to Infobae Father Leo Cuenca, organizer of the event, to carry out the religious march “a fee had to be paid to Highways for the intervention of the road”. What caused inconvenience was not the payment, but the way in which it was given. Unlike what happened before, when the deal to organize the pilgrimage was with officials of the organization stationed in the province, now it had to be handled via email.
“We received the information 48 hours before the pilgrimage,” Cuenca noted. And he added: “It is the first time it has happened. We went on pilgrimage 24 years ago. The modus operandi is always the same: we request permits from the security forces and Highways. We had the surprise this year with the charge for pilgrimage on the shoulder”.
As the religious explained, The rate was related to the time of use of the side road to the national road.. That is to say: the $560 thousand pesos correspond to the use during the window that went from 6 p.m. on Saturday to the early hours of Sunday.
In addition to the fee, in the email sent by Vialidad there were “a series of important requirements, such as security and other complementary requirements,” which were mandatory to access the permit.
Payment was made through the TAD platform (remote procedures). ARCA collected it, but the money will end up in the coffers of Vialidad. The funds were provided by the Bishopric of Posadas.
“Our position is that if the rules of the game are those, we must comply with them, as long as it is within the law and serves to order. It is sloppy to have found out 48 hours before without taking into account the idiosyncrasy of the region, cultural issues and popular religiosity,” he expressed.
Likewise, he complained that everything “is framed economically, without a very clear compensation”.
“When you travel the national routes, you see that they have been abandoned for a long time. and, unfortunately, the jungle did its thing. In the entire section where we pilgrimage there are no longer shoulders. Trees have grown around the route,” the priest highlighted the lack of maintenance.
The organization’s estimate is that the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Loreto brought together more than 12 thousand people. Some arrived walking along RN 12 from Posadas and Jardín de América, others who marched from the south arrived via provincial routes and, finally, there were those who participated through a nautical procession.
“For us, the most important thing about the weekend was being able to carry out the pilgrimage. The balance was very positive due to the participation of the people,” Cuenca concluded.
Following a query made by this medium, National Roads sent a communication explaining what happened.
“National Roads informs that, in accordance with the provisions of article 60 of the National Traffic Law 24,449, The use of public roads for activities not related to traffic (such as demonstrations, competitions, pilgrimages, etc.) require prior authorization from the competent authority.“said the report.
The text indicates that “the granting of said authorization entails the payment of a fee for the increased activity required”.
“In this sense, National Roads manages the pertinent Third Party Permit to grant authorization according to current regulations.”, which can be consulted on the agency’s website.
