Costambar Protest

Duece

Active member
Mar 11, 2004
154
59
28
Didn't see anyone else posting on this. About 9:30 am today protesters from the Costambar area blocked the bridge in front of the Free Zone so no one could pass from POP or Santiago. A big mess for about 90 minutes then the troops came and after attempted negotiations, I presume, enough was enough and tear gas was fired first and then shots were fired. Traffic began moving about 11:10 am and all was clear about 1 pm. Rumor has it the protest was about continual flooding in the poorer areas of Costambar.
 

scid

New member
Jul 21, 2004
14
0
0
Costambar

I understand that this protest also has to do with the fire that destroyed one of the factories in Zona Franca last Thursday night and left 500 people without work or pay. There has not been anything said about this, except on local POP Radio as this fire is under investigation for arson.
 

Duece

Active member
Mar 11, 2004
154
59
28
I'm two buildings down from where the fire was and I really haven't heard anything concerning that from our workers. You could well be right. The only thing I had heard was about the flooding. Either way, neither thing is a good thing. We got flooded out in the Free Zone several weeks ago during the big storm and supposedly they are working on a solution but with all the rain we have been having I know Costambar gets clobbered. I know a couple of people who live in the affected sections and they are getting tired of cleaning up after getting flooded repeatedly.
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
There is an article about the fire at Atlantic Manufacturing last Thursday in today's print version of El Faro. I can't give you a link because the online version isn't online yet. It says some 60 firemen and volunteers worked for about 7 hours to prevent it spreading to the adjacent building also owned by the same company. According to the Fire Chief the cause was a short circuit when the factory was closed........... but, who knows? I know Atlantic had said they were going to close (same problems as other textile companies).
 

scid

New member
Jul 21, 2004
14
0
0
Learned from the locals that this protest was indeed about the deplorable disgusting state of the road into Costambar leading up to the security entrance. It is more than bad, it is dangerous and when it rains, like it has been doing - it is just soupy mud. There is a stream somewhere that constantly overflows into the Haitian homes alongside the road and into the neighbouring barrio. The road was repaired not all that long ago with a pile of dirt and stones! Didn't take long for it go back where it was before the repair!!! It needs to be asphalted, properly, that means at least 2" of asphalt! Dream on and hope for a mechanics shop to open in Costambar for all the good the road does to our cars!:chinese:
 

tflea

Bronze
Jun 11, 2006
1,839
164
63
I don't think I've ever read or seen a single good comment on Costambar. why do you folks who live there, still live there? What's the allure? Just curious.
 

Rocky

Honorificabilitudinitatibus
Apr 4, 2002
13,993
208
0
111
www.rockysbar.com
Oh boy. Here we go...

This part about 2 hotel tourist busses being attacked, will be bad news for DR tourism.
Dos guaguas de las que los hoteles contratan en compa??as privadas para transportar a los turistas hacia el balneario La Damajagua, pr?ximo al municipio de Imbert, fueron atacadas a pedradas en el momento en que llegaban cerca de la entrada al proyecto de Cost?mbar, lo que provoc? que los extranjeros abandonaran los veh?culos, asustados y con el temor de ser alcanzados por una de las piedras lanzadas por los manifestantes.
For the Spanish challenged, 2 tourist busses full of tourists were stoned, and the tourists got out and ran for their lives.
Wait 'till the world press gets a hold of this one.
 

monfongo

Bronze
Feb 10, 2005
1,202
145
63
the barrio is javilla,they have been getting a lot of flooding lately so I can see why they are mad, on the other hand they are all squaters and the place where they are squating is swamp land,I've heard that Brugal owns the property.
 
C

Chip00

Guest
the barrio is javilla,they have been getting a lot of flooding lately so I can see why they are mad, on the other hand they are all squaters and the place where they are squating is swamp land,I've heard that Brugal owns the property.

Is that the property just to the right of the entrance road leading up to the gated entrance? It is at the low area of the road where it is really bad and there is a frog pond too just to the right of the road? Also, it is right before one gets to the big club that closed down, right?
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
The entrance to that barrio is before the club - it is where the 'road' for want of a better word, bears to the left, entrance to barrio is on the right hand side.

And no monfongo, they are not all squatters. Mercedes lives there (our cleaning lady of 12 years so more like family than staff). She actually built a solid block house behind her old little wooden one & on our advice put rubble underneath to build up higher, as a result of which when the barrio floods she is one of the few with water on her patio but not in the house. There are also some gringos living in that barrio, like the German baker. The barrio is a lot larger than it looks from the outside, with many block homes, colmados etc. But it is at risk each time the river bursts its banks, which has been frequently recently. So yes I understand their frustrations plus the fact that the new owners of the planta AEI said they were going to fund improvemets in that barrio, but that is still no excuse for venting their anger on tourists.
 

scid

New member
Jul 21, 2004
14
0
0
You are corrrect about the area. I have lived in Costambar for over 2 years and on the whole, I like it and have never had a problem except for the bad entrance road and the electricity cutouts!
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
A bit more background about the protest - another case of broken promises. A while back, after the floods, the Governor of PP promised to drag the river which runs through the barrio in question Javillar. To date it hasn't been done (neither incidentally have the Government promised repairs to destroyed homes materialised - all repair work so far appears to be via voluntary or individual effort). The rains of a few days ago caused mud to come down from the mountain & now that is running into the river & making things worse i.e. one torrential shower & the river is likely to burst its banks again & the whole barrio will be flooded. The residents waited & waited & finally protested.

I gather there was a bit of bad feeling during the protest. Police were doing a lot of shooting; residents had rocks & home made bombs (gasoline in bottle with rag - molotov cocktail) but no guns I gather. There were quite a few injuries. Protestors were preventing police from getting through. When an ambulance appeared everyone thought it was for the injured so they let it pass. In reality it was full of police who climbed out and began shooting. I think the protestors were a bit livid that they had been duped. That's when they really let rip with the rocks I understand. Not sure what happens the next time an ambulance wants to get through............

Many of the protestors are still locked up. Not sure when they are coming to Court.
 
C

Chip00

Guest
A bit more background about the protest - another case of broken promises. A while back, after the floods, the Governor of PP promised to drag the river which runs through the barrio in question Javillar. To date it hasn't been done (neither incidentally have the Government promised repairs to destroyed homes materialised - all repair work so far appears to be via voluntary or individual effort). The rains of a few days ago caused mud to come down from the mountain & now that is running into the river & making things worse i.e. one torrential shower & the river is likely to burst its banks again & the whole barrio will be flooded. The residents waited & waited & finally protested.

I gather there was a bit of bad feeling during the protest. Police were doing a lot of shooting; residents had rocks & home made bombs (gasoline in bottle with rag - molotov cocktail) but no guns I gather. There were quite a few injuries. Protestors were preventing police from getting through. When an ambulance appeared everyone thought it was for the injured so they let it pass. In reality it was full of police who climbed out and began shooting. I think the protestors were a bit livid that they had been duped. That's when they really let rip with the rocks I understand. Not sure what happens the next time an ambulance wants to get through............

Many of the protestors are still locked up. Not sure when they are coming to Court.

While dragging the river may help it certainly wouldn't appear to help stem the flow of mud coming off of the mountain. It may be there is some eroded areas that have recently developed that could be causing this mini mud slide.

In any event the next time we go to the beach I will pass by there and check it out. If anybody has the contact of the info of the mayor maybe I can send an email with my recomendations as a civil engineer.

The reason why I would like to offer this advice is maybe there is a more cost effective solution to the problem. Part of the problem as I see it here in the DR is that it behooves the engineers to assess problems as more serious thatn they really are because in the end they are paid instead to coordinate the work in addition to the standard practice of designing it. This type of system is just asking for abuses so I wouldn't be surprised to find out if the solution as presented by the engineers in this case was overkill.
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
The Mayor is Walter Musa - tel. no of Ayuntamiento is 809-586-2526. However I don't believe the promise to drag was a municipal one. It was the Governor, Cesar de los Santos, who made the promise (i.e. a national thing on behalf of President). His office is in the provincial seat of Government, next to the sports arena on Luis Ginebra. He's in when the large jeepeta is parked not in the road outside but in the pedestrian entrance to the building. Sorry I don't know any email addresses - it's an eyeball to eyeball culture.............
 
C

Chip00

Guest
The Mayor is Walter Musa - tel. no of Ayuntamiento is 809-586-2526. However I don't believe the promise to drag was a municipal one. It was the Governor, Cesar de los Santos, who made the promise (i.e. a national thing on behalf of President). His office is in the provincial seat of Government, next to the sports arena on Luis Ginebra. He's in when the large jeepeta is parked not in the road outside but in the pedestrian entrance to the building. Sorry I don't know any email addresses - it's an eyeball to eyeball culture.............


I called the above number and it appears that it isn't the right one as they answered "hello" and didn't know any Senor Musa.
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
Ah. Ayuntamiento obviously doesn't want calls :) or they've changed their number. That's the published number but I've never used it. I pop into Ayuntamiento on the rare occasions when I need to. In any event, as I said above, the dragging promise was a Governor one, not a Mayor one i.e. a national thing not a municipal thing. I suppose Obras Publicas might be appropriate - at least you'd have the possibility of speaking to an engineer who spoke your language. There are 3 numbers for Obras Publicas in the book but I've never phoned any of them and I'm reluctant to post them here in case they turn out to be wrong too! :rolleyes:
 

BigRich

New member
Mar 31, 2007
15
0
0
Costambar is where Blackbeards is located. If the flooding is bad in front of the security gate, does it effect people trying to get there, or is the area passable, but inconvenient?
 

Lambada

Gold
Mar 4, 2004
9,478
410
0
80
www.ginniebedggood.com
Passable but inconvenient. I've never not got through, but I drive an old SUV with 4WD. You wouldn't want to do it on a concho though! A low slung sports car wouldn't be a good idea either. It all depends how much rain we've had, my guess is it dried out considerably over the weekend. (The flooding referred to in relation to the protest was actually inside El Javillar barrio & the parts near the San Marcos river i.e. a different place from the mud lake going into Costambar).