Tow trucks from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (AMET) are hauling away an average of 160 cars a day in Santo Domingo alone. The vehicles are being taken to the old dog-racing track at El Coco. Last Wednesday was a slow day and only 111 cars entered the compound. According to El Caribe, the daily average is 167. Transport union leaders are protesting what they call the “persecution” of their members as “abusive and illegal”. They point out that there is a Supreme Court resolution that prohibits AMET from holding vehicles without a judge’s permission. Antonio Marte, spokesman and president of CONATRA, told El Caribe reporters that an average of 30 vehicles belonging to his members are taken in each day. The FENATRANO union said that their members are averaging 88 vehicles a day and the CNTD union reported 59 per day. The photo illustrating the article shows an AMET truck with 22 motorcycles on board. CNTU spokesman Ramon Perez Figuereo said that AMET has increased its “hunt” for defective vehicles, “even a light bulb in the daylight hours.” A car taken to the Canodrom at El Coco will cost the driver RD$1,500 and probably three days of errands to recover it. As the unions prepared their protests, they told reporters that what the traffic police was doing is illegal, since it goes against a Supreme Court order as well as individual property rights. The counter-argument, given to the reporters by Luis Alba, a traffic consultant for AMET, is quite clear: “Law 241, that governs all traffic, states that if a driver does not have a license or the vehicle does not have license plates, it is not allowed on the streets.” Alba asks, “Are we to leave it on the street, abandoned? The law says that we have to tow it to a safe place within the jurisdiction.” Juan Hubieres pointed out that Plan Renove vehicles do not have license plates, but neither do OMSA buses, and these vehicles are not confiscated. According to Hubieres, the Internal Revenue department is only processing eight to 10 registrations and license plates a day and his union’s members have 5,000 vehicles.