In January it was the Dominican Municipal League, last week it was the public school breakfast milk contamination scandal, and now expect the newspapers to focus on the strikes of teachers, medics and the Fenatrano bus union. The teachers and medics say they seek salary increases, and the Fenatrano, whose members have been affected by the modernization of transport in Santo Domingo, seek a reduction in the price of gasoline and the supposed RD$400 million owed by the government due to a RD$2,000-per taxi subsidy the government started to pay chauffeurs at the time it increased the price of gasoline. This new string of strikes reflects the tension between the three majority political parties, the Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano, and the ruling Partido de la Liberaci?n Dominicana. The strikes had been frequent in 1998, up to the point where the three parties attempted to sit down to talks. The politicians were not able to reach agreements to put political disputes behind them and get on with matters of more interest to the nation. Rather, lack of vision and political errors led to the constitution of a Central Electoral Board by the PRD-majority Senate, the election of a PRD-dissident to preside the Chamber of Deputies, and the election of a PRSC man as secretary general, bringing the nation’s strongest political party, the PRD to clash with the government. Making matters worse within the PRD, a party with a history of internal confrontations and power pulls, is that the party has not yet chosen who of many aspirants, will be the party’s presidential candidate in the year 2000 elections. Technical Secretary of the Presidency, Tem?stocles Mont?s, speaking for the PLD, said the strikes are promoted by the PRD, to create a bad image internationally for the DR. He explained that the economy is going so well —"The Economist" forecast the DR would have the highest growth rate in the world in 1999— that the PRD needs to try to create an impression of major problems in the DR in order to maintain its aspirations to win the presidency in year 2000. PRD spokesman Tony Raful rejected the party is behind the strike movements, but said they feel the strikers have fair demands. While the strikes are barely noticeable to DR1 readers, and most people in Santo Domingo and resort areas, in smaller cities in the internal provinces, passionate protesters are known to clash with the police.
