Josué Ramírez: the trade that keeps the forestry chain moving in La Araucanía

In the forestry world, there are jobs that often stay far from the cameras, yet they are essential for the entire chain to keep functioning. One of them is the maintenance of the trucks that travel the roads of southern Chile daily, transporting timber.

In La Araucanía, Josué Ramírez knows that responsibility well. His work is directly linked to the mechanical maintenance of forestry trucks, a trade that demands experience, commitment, and the ability to respond when a machine cannot afford to stop.

His story was captured by the Association of Forestry Contractors (Acoforag) as part of an audiovisual series that seeks to put a face to the people behind forestry activity. Workers who, from different trades and places across the territory, make it possible for the sector to operate day after day.

For Josué, his work carries a meaning that goes beyond repairing a truck. Every vehicle that becomes operational again allows timber to leave the forest, reach its destination, and continue its journey toward industrial plants. Behind that process are also the jobs, families, and communities that depend on this activity.

"We connect the forest with the communities," Ramírez summarizes in the audiovisual recording, a phrase that reflects the dimension he himself attributes to his work.

His bond with the territory is also part of this story. He grew up in La Araucanía and has developed his working life there, building knowledge of the environment and the demands of an activity that often takes place far from major urban centers.

Maintaining a forestry truck requires constant attention. These are vehicles subjected to long working hours and demanding conditions, especially on rural and forestry roads. That is why the experience of those who know their engines, systems, and operation becomes a key piece in preventing breakdowns and keeping operations running.

But behind every repair, there is also a person, a trade, and a story.

That is precisely the focus Acoforag seeks to highlight with this series: showing that behind the timber, the trucks, the machines, and the forests, there is an extensive network of workers whose effort sustains forestry activity on a daily basis.

Josué Ramírez's story is one of them. A story of trade, territory, and responsibility, which reminds us that the forestry chain neither begins nor ends at an industrial plant: it is also built on the roads, in the workshops, and in the hands of those who make it possible for everything to keep moving forward.