The country was virtually paralyzed yesterday, the first day of the 48-hour national strike, report this morning’s papers. Although disturbances were few and far between during the day, riots flared up in city hotspots. There has been one death reported so far, that of a 29-year-old man who was hit by police gunfire as he returned to his home from work in the Arroyo Hondo district of Santiago. The police were shooting in response to the stoning of a bus by local youths, according to reports, and the victim, Francisco Antonio Valerio Hernandez, a carpenter, was caught in the crossfire. The number of reported injuries varies from 32 cited in the Listin Diario to 53 in Hoy newspaper. Many of these casualties appear to have occurred in Santiago. In Santo Domingo’s Sabana Perdida district, shots were fired at a bus transporting soldiers, resulting in two injuries. Hoy newspaper quotes Abel Rojas, a community leader who reported an assault in the capital’s slum Capotillo district by PPH (supporters of President Hipolito Mejia) members in which three people received bullet wounds. Navarrete (near Santiago) – a frequent flashpoint for popular protests – was also the scene of disturbances, resulting in several injuries. Incidents and injuries were also reported in Nagua, Moca, Bonao, San Francisco de Macoris and Barahona. In the rest of the country the day went by peacefully, while most businesses were closed. The two-day strike was called by an alliance of popular movements and supported by sectors as diverse as the National Business Council (CONEP), opposition parties PLD and PRSC and the trade unions. Among their demands were a change in the government’s monetary policies, wage raises, lower food, medicine and fuel prices, and protest against the signing of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. The police denied reports it had imprisoned 100 people and called for the public to maintain order and peace. Interior & Police Minister Pedro Franco Badia yesterday defended the actions of the police who had detained a number of strike organizers, political, trade union and community leaders, saying it was for their own protection. These arrests included that of Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) minority party leader Ramon Almanzar.
Additionally, the papers report a clampdown by so-called secret agents who surrounded the headquarters of the rural women’s organization CONAMUCA in the capital, which doubles as a meeting place for strike organizers. According to Hoy, the authorities removed the police cordon on the orders of President Hipolito Mejia, after TV personality Freddy Beras Goico reported live from the scene.
Government legal advisor and leading supporter of President Hipolito Mejia’s electoral ambitions, Guido Gomez Mazara, said that the strike was a threat to institutional order, as he laughed off Fuerza de la Revolucion leader Narciso Isa Conde’s call for the President to resign. Gomez Mazara accused the opposition PLD of trying to “make political capital” out of the protest. The newspapers report that it was business as usual at the Presidential Palace yesterday, although there was a marked reduction in the usual flow of visitors. The strike is due to end at 6 pm today.