Santiago did not adhere to the 48-hour work stoppage and this means after a partial strike affected the city on Monday, 25 April, much is back to normal. The work and school strike continues today in San Francisco de Macorís, the other important Cibao city.
The old stye of vandalism and violent protests has thus returned to Santiago and Cibao communities and indeed was able to partially shut down several major cities and towns.
The protest method that forced businesses and schools to close or risk damages had been abandoned. The Marcha Verde, the civic movement, surged as an alternative for opposition political party and mass peaceful protests during the governments of former President Leonel Fernandez and Danilo Medina.
Now, with these two out of power, the organizers of strike-promoting groups are back and the entities showed their muscle with the stoppage on Monday, 25 April in Santiago and San Francisco de Macorís. In Santiago, the strike was mainly backed by the traditional strike hot spot communities of Licey al Medio, Navarrete and Cienfuegos slum area.
The business and industrial sectors did not back the strike, yet fear of damages and lack of transport kept many workers at home.
The strikers have a long list of social and economic demands that mostly have the backing of the population, not so the methodology again being used to force people to shut down and stop normal activities.
The Mayor of Santiago, a former president of the Chamber of Deputies during a Danilo Medina administration, Abel Martinez called a press conference on the first day of the strike. He said that the demands of the strike callers were fair even but he did not back the strike at a time when the population is impacted by domestic and international crisis. “Throwing garbage and burning tires leads to nowhere,” said Martinez. He said the Abinader administration has a bad management of government policies in the 14 northern provinces where he says the government has invested little. He called for a sincere and transparent national talks to contribute to mitigate the difficult times for the Dominican people.
Meanwhile, Osvaldo Brito, director of the Frente Amplio de Lucha Popular (Falpo), the traditional strike organizer, said the strike would continue for another 24 hours. The demands include a reduction in fuel prices, food staples, and a generalized increase in minimum wages, the elimination of the private social security system, no to the privatizacion of Punta Catalina power plant, no to the construction of the Las Placetas hydroelectric dam, and finishing of several projects in the Cibao, including schools, hospitals and rural roads.
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26 April 2022