The Federación Nacional de Transporte La Nueva Opción (Fenatrano) suspended the hunger strike whereby union members sought participation in the government programs being implemented to make more efficient, safe and modern public transport in Santo Domingo. The union groups owners of mini-buses that in the past were the principal transporters on the main avenues of Santo Domingo. Monsignor Agripino Núñez Collado, rector of the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, mediated so that the union members end the hunger strike. Núñez Collado was able to convince the union members to desist from their protest when through his efforts the Presidency appointed a commission made up by Administrative Secretary of the Presidency Simón Lizardo; the director of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (AMET) of Santo Domingo, engineer Hamlet Herman; and the director of the Metropolitan Office of Bus Services (OMSA), engineer Ignacio Ditrén that have accepted to meet with the leaders of Fenatrano. Juan Hubieres, president of Fenatrano, lead the 8-day protest. He said that the government decision to meet with them to discuss their participation in the restructuring of transport is a step ahead. Hubieres said that the group needs to talk before the government opens new corridors for the new buses. The new buses are solely government-owned. The government has said it is not interested in the participation of the unions in the transport restructuring for the time being. The unions have striked in the past, affecting transport in Santo Domingo.
