Latest eruption of Latin American struggle
Strike shuts down Santo Domingo
By Berta Joubert-Ceci
One more brick of the U.S. neoliberal
imperialist castle south of Rio Grande is crumbling, shaken by
the same quake of misery and hunger that is sweeping through
the region of Latin America and the Caribbean.
On Nov. 11 the people of the Dominican Republic staged a
24-hour general strike that paralyzed the country in
repudiation of the neoliberal policies of President Hi
pó lito Mejía, a social democrat. Ten people were
killed, at least 60 wounded and more than a thousand detained.
This strike, on the heels of the one in Bolivia that deposed
President Sánchez de Lozada, must have the imperialists
thinking hard.
Workers World spoke about this development with Narciso Isa
Conde, spokes person of Fuerza de la Revolución (Force
of the Revolution) in Santo Domingo. His organization is part
of the National Pop ular Organizations Collective, an um brella
grouping of labor, women's, peasant, student and other
organizations--60 in total--that called for the strike.
According to Isa Conde, this strike was the continuation of
actions, based on the collective's principles of unity and
struggle, that had begun with two national days of protest back
in July and August. "It was probably the most successful strike
in the last few years. Besides its strong popular character and
being led by the most consistent and combative popular
organizations--it had a strong participation of the left,
particularly of the FR--it was able to unite almost all of
Dominican society. This was so because of the great crisis
afflicting the economy, the political institutions, the
traditional parties and the government."
Even in the capital, which has always been difficult to
paralyze due to its big population and diverse composition, the
strike was successful.
Asked about an apparent discrepancy in the number of
deaths--seven to eight deaths were reported during the
strike--Isa Conde explained that the media left out the
military's Operation Centella and the police Operation
Güaragüao. House searches that started two years ago
under President Mejía, both are geared to intimidate the
population with the excuse of seizing illegal weapons. The
night before the strike, houses and offices were searched,
including the central office where the strike was being
coordinated. Two deaths resulted from this "special operation"
and several people were wounded, including FR members.
Deplorable conditions in Dominican Republic
"The demands most felt by all the population were opposition
to the impending Dominican Republic-IMF agreement, the
increased cost of living, and the frequent blackouts that have
lasted between 15 hours to two days; they want the recovery of
privatized companies, particularly in the energy sector, and an
increase of wages. All these are combined with a feeling of
indignation against the government," said Isa Conde.
Unemployment is officially 27-30 percent in the Dominican
Republic, but underemployment is higher. Some 40 per cent of
the peasant are underemployed. Poverty is around 70 percent. In
the two years since President Mejía took office, the
peso has been devalued from 17 to a dollar to the current 40
pesos to a dollar. Prices of foodstuffs and other basic items
have skyrocketed. Gasoline has increased tremendously also,
with the nat ional energy system at the brink of collapse.
In the precarious delivery of services, privatization has
added more misery. Hos pitals run out of materials and the
price of medicines has tripled. There is an acute crisis in the
system that provides drinkable water as the contamination and
degradation of rivers worsens.
Aggravating this dire situation, the state has added the
component of violent repression. Besides the military and
police "operations" already mentioned, says Isa Conde, there
are "extrajudicial executions, the people that the police
assassinate daily. Under the 'battle against delinquency,' they
also penalize the popular movement, killing poor community acti
vists. They also capture, imprison and shoot young men in their
legs, leaving them disabled. There have been cases of youth
whose legs had to be amputated. We have denounced this and hope
that the international community will help us raise this issue
in every forum on human rights. This shows the intolerance of
the government towards every open act of dissent. During the
Pan American Games recently held here, the government violently
suppressed legal demonstrations."
The government and the ruling class are accomplices in dirty
deals. Said Isa Conde, "This strike also repudiated the
impunity of the state's crimes and corruption. There is
complicity between private financial groups and government
officials in protecting 'financial bankruptcies.' They have
defaulted at least three banks, and the government wants the
general population to pay for this robbery by imposing new
taxes."
But the masses in the Dominican Republic do not want to give
the government and the dominant class free rein. They are
preparing for the next step.
"There was a strong sentiment in favor of the resignation of
the president during the strike," Isa Conde pointed out.
"Partic ularly after the experience in Bolivia. And in this
case, Dominicans think nine more months with this government,
which has increased the poverty of the population tremendously,
is too much to endure. It is the expression of the discredited
neoliberal model administrator that has im mersed the country
in a profound crisis."
More action is possible in the next few months to get the
president out of office before the next elections in May. The
strike's national coordinating committee gave the president 30
days, until Dec. 11, to rectify his politics and satisfy the
strikers' demands. "Otherwise the Collective will conduct
another strike that will be of a higher dimension and duration
and with more political content," says Isa Conde.
In the meantime, local actions continue and a National
Popular Assembly is sched uled for the end of November to
decide on the character of the next strike.
Reprinted from the Nov. 27, 2003, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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