Dominican Republic braces for one day strike!

[brovo35]

http://dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=25612

[greydread]

"...test their newly acquired water cannons." WTF???

[ChicaSeeka]

they had one a few months ago while i was there too, mostly only affected big cities, very little change in Sosua, it was business as usual..

[Kevy]

I was there for the big 2 day strike in 2004. a couple of people were killed in Santo Domingo, but in the tourists areas, you will only notice more police.

[Dark Knight]

If everything goes up by 30%, it won't be worth our while to go there anymore. We could, then, do South America for the same price.

And it won't just be 30%. It will actually be about 50%, by the time they get finished.

And, what if you're due to arrive or depart tomorrow? Will that effect the airlines, the airport, the rental car people, etc?

[whynotme]

oh well i guess the cisoc team that is landing at 2pm will find out first hand.
one of us will likely be posting tomorrow after our first R&R experience:rolleyes:

[MrHappy]

True story... The strike is today. When I was driving home from work yesterday, I came to an area where they had stuck junk in the road to block traffic, and the guys were all standing around with their faces covered.

I rolled down the window, called one over to the truck, and told him,"it's not today, it's tomorrow"

He looked at me for a second, then yelled it to one of the others, and they laughed and yelled back "We're practicing!"

I laughed back at them, and drove through..
Some road block..

[prtyr2]

I had rented a car from a dominican buddy for the weekend, and had to return it yesterday. I called my buddy to ask if it was cool to return it even though there was a huelga happening. He said OK. I drove to the other side of the bridge to return the car and other than the streets being quiet nothing was out of the ordinary.

I dropped the car off and had a few grandes at a colmado and a billar near where he lives. Then it started raining and I called a taxi. I went home and did a bit of work. The lights went out 3 times so I bailed and went around the block to a colmado and had a few more beers. It was dark as hell but again no riots or problems. Then again Gazcue is not exactly ground zero for that stuff. Wonder how it was in Navarete. Those guys riot for any reason.

MrHappy, great to see ya at Playa Vista on sunday. I think I am blowing off my 2 amigas for good. One of em has the same name as your cunyada. The cunyada is cute BTW so behave yourself!!! ;-)

[psriches]

4 October 2007 (Sosua News)

National strike day very quiet

Although they opened later than normal, the shops are all open, just like any other day. In the ice-cream parlour in Charamicos there are plenty of people enjoying their ice cream, as normal. Everything is quiet in Montellano, and the children are going to school, as normal. There are no signs of any strike in Sosúa, but that's also what happened during the previous strike.
It was also quiet in Puerto Plata and the other larger towns. There were more police officers and military personnel on the streets, and there was less traffic on the roads because many people decided to stay home today.


http://www.sosuanews.com/news_pictures/2007/10/4-10_staking_1.jpg (http://www.sosuanews.com/news_pictures/2007/10/4-10_staking_1.jpg) It was quiet in Charamicos

There was less public transport than on other days, but there were still plenty of taxis and buses around. Children went to school as usual, and people were able to travel to their jobs, even if the journey took slightly longer than normal.


Puerto Plata


Late in the evening President Leonel Fernández met with union representatives and urged that the strike should be kept peaceful. This meeting apparently had positive results, because the President has promised more meetings to discuss the problems and try to come to a solution.

http://www.sosuanews.com/news_pictures/2007/10/4-10_staking_2.jpg (http://www.sosuanews.com/news_pictures/2007/10/4-10_staking_2.jpg) Caribe Tours was working


The protesters claim that the government has had the military and police lock up a lot of troublemakers several days ago. For example, there are over 200 potential ringleaders in Puerto Plata that have been put in jail until after the strike. The unions claim again that they are not striking for the fun of it, but that they are protesting about the continually rising prices of food and fuel. A large percentage of the population is about to land in a downward spiral of poverty. They say that the government is doing nothing to fight unemployment, but has plenty of money to spend on prestigious projects such as the new Santo Domingo metro system and new airports.

[Pana]

The unions claim again that they are not striking for the fun of it, but that they are protesting about the continually rising prices of food and fuel. A large percentage of the population is about to land in a downward spiral of poverty. They say that the government is doing nothing to fight unemployment, but has plenty of money to spend on prestigious projects such as the new Santo Domingo metro system and new airports.
I still wonder why we here in the USA people dont protest rising prices of food and gas :rolleyes2: the cost of living is getting out of control in some places especially the City Of New York . I always said that why are they building a metro system in Santo Domingo it is a comple waste of money the DR is not even in the 100 largest Cities in the world they need to invest that money some where else like education 1st, but than again the elites of that country want to keep the lower class uneducated so they can continue to maintain control.

[Jimmydr]

I still wonder why we here in the USA people dont protest rising prices of food and gas :rolleyes2: the cost of living is getting out of control in some places especially the City Of New York . I always said that why are they building a metro system in Santo Domingo it is a comple waste of money the DR is not even in the 100 largest Cities in the world they need to invest that money some where else like education 1st, but than again the elites of that country want to keep the lower class uneducated so they can continue to maintain control.


Its run by the wealthy and the wealthy have that already.

[Kevy]

I arrived that day and it was a non event. There were some cops with machine guns at the highway entering the airport and a few on the highway by charmicos, but nothing else.