Three dead as general strike takes violent turn in Dominican Republic

Wednesday, November 12, 2003

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AFP): Three people were killed Tuesday as demonstrators clashed with police and soldiers during a 24-hour general strike in the Dominican Republic, authorities said.

Protestors who have been demanding lower gasoline prices, better state hospitals, and an end to foreign debt payments and IMF agreements were felled by gunfire from armed forces members in different areas of Santo Domingo, organizers and health officials said.

Dozens more people were injured, and many arrests were made, they added.

Army vehicles rumbled out in force onto streets of the capital and other cities in this Caribbean nation of eight million, a major tourist destination for holidaymakers from Europe and North America. Transport ground almost to a halt, and most businesses closed their doors.

Unidentified demonstrators also torched offices of the ruling Dominican Revolutionary Party and the state Water and Sewers administration, local media reported, amid widespread discontent with government economic policies.

Other marchers banged on pots and pans, as some burned tires and others hurled stones at military battalions, local media reported.

The head of the army, General Euripides Uribe, insisted the situation was under control. But he said the armed forces would not tolerate civil disobedience.

"Anyone who goes out to challenge an officer knows he faces an officer who will carry out his duty," Uribe said.

Opposition leader Victor Jeronimo of the Broad Front for the People's Struggle said the day's protests had been a "total success", and had given a strong message to the government from citizens demanding "a change of model, and a change of direction".

The mass mobilizations seek to demand the government change its economic policies, and boost public spending and social programs here amid an ongoing banking crisis and steep inflation.

The price of everyday consumer goods has been soaring, and the troubled power supply system remains as unreliable as ever, with blackouts that can last up to 12 hours. Gasoline prices have increased 150 percent in three years.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission was due in the country this week to discuss the possibility of fresh credit.

In just over a year, the Dominican peso has plummeted against the US dollar. The government has forecast inflation will hit 35 percent this year. 

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