Barahona travel is curtailed

[Xavier_Onassis]

My significant other lives in Barahona with her family that I have been looking after for five years, and tells me that all the buses from the capital have been suspended. There seem to have been a few cases of the virus there, not sure how many. The city market is open from 8 to 10 AM and the supermarket closes at 4 PM. The streets are colsed and they are arresting people. Some people called periodistas run about taking photos of peope in the street with the idea of arresting them. Prices for food are high, no one is working or has any money. She used to sell refrescos and yaroa at her front door, now that is forbidden. A side door to the house broke off its hinges and she commissioned another one made of steel, but does not know how to get it from the shop up the hill to where she lives.

 

[bob saunders]

http://www.noticiariobarahona.com/GG Here you can read for yourself whats happening in Barahona. Barahona has I belive at last notice 33 cases of Corvid-19 and one dead, so not many or wide spread. 5 pm to 6 am curfew everywhere in the DR. If people are on the streets after 5 they will be arrested. Quite likely your womans family will be on the list to receive 5000 pesos per month for two months( food only at selected colados and supermarkets) She can easily check if she qualifies. Periodistas are press( journalists or reporters)
Here is an article on why some sections of streets are closed. http://www.noticiariobarahona.com/2020/04/cpmr-de-barahona-cerrara-tramos-de.html
One of our teachers is from Barahona. I will ask her about conditions there.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

I know what periodista means, I just thought it was interesting that this was the word used. There is no local newspaper in Barahona, though there are several websites (Ecos del Sur, El Faro, Barahona 3). In normal times, the bus delivers about 30 copies of El Listin to the bus station ay La Plazoleta station. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Caonabo]

I know what periodista means, I just thought it was interesting that this was the word used. There is no local newspaper in Barahona, though there are several websites (Ecos del Sur, El Faro, Barahona 3). In normal times, the bus delivers about 30 copies of El Listin to the bus station ay La Plazoleta station. Thanks for the comments.

"Periodista" is also a term used for those who run their start up websites, host youtube channels, or run web logs. It is not just used in the traditional sense of the word. In many cases where these amateurs run afoul of the authorities or local communities, they invoke "Periodista" status, although they do not possess any real or genuine working press credentials.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

I got the feeling that the "periodistas" that she was mentioning were simply freelancers with better quality cameras on their cellphones that the PN was paying on a bounty-per-person-roaming-around-loose basis.

 

[Xavier_Onassis]

Well, after many fits and starts, bus service has returned to Barahona. First I think the government shut down the service, then there were a couple of strikes by the bus company employees.