Rioting in Puerto Plata

It is true that there were demonstrations in Puerto Plata due to terrible electric service, falling peso and rapidly increasing food prices, etc., etc. But it was not a war, and had you gone to Puerto Plata you wouldn't have been aware of what was going on unless you went into some of the poorest neighborhoods.

true

Yes, in the past week, there have been many protests/riots/burning fires in the Puerto Plata area. I was in Costambar last week and the entrance to the Costambar was blocked with fires for several afternoons/nights. As soon as one of the other barrios would start, the rest would start too. News would spread quickly that the riots would start again and I found that they began usually around 2pm.

I don't think the main roads were affected because the police contained the riots within the barrios. I did notice more police around last week. And if you were travelling thru POP, It would have been hard to miss the smoke though! They have been burning lots of tires. And the next morning, small piles of burning fires can still be seen and as long as you were driving cautiously, you could get around them. However, I wouldn't necessarily say that the riots were contained only to the poorest barrios, because I saw alot of debris in barrios such as Barrio Haiti and Invi.

I know of many friends and members of my boyfriend's family that were stranded in different parts of the city because of the riots.

Isn't it amazing how ones perspective on life in a town like Puerto Plata can vary greatly from anothers??? I live on the east side of Puerto Plata, went into town several times last week & put a report on to this board during last week. I SAW NO problems in the town at all!! There were NO riots going on whilst I drove around & NO remnants of fires in the areas I travelled (Town center, east & south east of town)! On Sunday I went into Costambar & DID see the remnants of fires on the road leading into Costambar & I did hear of 3 or 4 people being persuaded to return into Costambar when they were trying to go shopping into Puerto Plata - but that is all!

Ther WAS a PROTEST in the Barrio near the baseball stadium (east of town) but that was contained in that Barrio & in no way spilled out onto the main highway!!

For what it is worth, I think the terminoligy "Riots" is FAR too excessive. These were demonstrations/Protests that were good humoured until the police started lobbing bricks, getting heavy hande & started shooting. The 'Hippo' policy of shoot first & ask questions after "so as not to interfere with the PanAm Games' is what is causing the protests to turn ugly & cause the locals to stampede so that it "Looks" like a riot!!!

As stated in the thread 'A bedtime story for Children', is this the beginning of Hippo delaying the elections next year because of the national unrest making it impossible for elections to be held??? Is this 'Hippo's' way of staying in power?? He certainly won't get re-elected, so how else will he hang on to the seat of power? - Grahame.

I agree, BushBaby, that "riot" is not the correct term. I suppose for people new to the country, or who have been living here for only the past few, very quiet years, that seeing one of these demonstrations can cause a lot of anxiety.

Demonstrations with tire burning, etc., and strikes, national, regional and local, are the primary ways in which the general population of the DR and most other Latin American countries show their upset at the way in which they are abused by their leaders.

I anticipate that between now and the election in 2004 that we will see a lot more demonstrations. There is a lot going on in this country to protest about.