The prosecution of a Fernández government minister seems to have brought out into the open the reality of strikes in the Dominican Republic. News reports now have made transparent that the government was paying RD$25-RD$31 million a month in checks to the "tigueres" or troublemakers resident in several Dominican barrios. The government, instead of building public works in the barrios, bent to collective blackmail to buy urban peace with cash payments. Minister Luis Inchaustegui was in charge of the Programa de Empleo Mínimo Eventual y Acción Barrial (which could be translated "program of eventual minimum employment and barrio actions"). Some news reports say that 80,000 people benefited from the program, others say it was more like 30,000, with checks of RD$200-RD$1,500 being given out every month to the beneficiaries. Police spokesman Nelson Rosario said that 30-40 police agents would accompany Inchaustegui when he visited the barrios to distribute the money. By taking Inchaustegui to justice, the Mejía administration is not questioning the program. Rather the complaint is that the funds did not go to whom the checks were addressed to. There have been complaints that 18,000 checks were deposited in an account by a relative of Inchaustegui. Franklin Almeyda, a leader of the PLD, the past government party, says that Inchaustegui is being prosecuted because the party now in power fears his influence in those barrios.
