US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO490

UNCLAS E F T O SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 000490 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA, DRL, AND CA 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/27/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, ASEC, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE SET FOR 
JAN. 28-29 
 
REF: A. (A) SANTO DOMINGO 355 
     B. (B) SANTO DOMINGO 414 
 
1. (SBU) A national work stoppage ("huelga" in Spanish), set 
for January 28-29, is likely to disrupt or close down many 
businesses across the country and cause scattered violence in 
low-income neighborhoods of the capital and smaller cities. 
The Coordinator of Popular and Labor Organizations promoting 
the work stoppage includes community, student, and labor 
groups and small leftist parties -- essentially the same 
coalition that prompted a similar "huelga" November 11, which 
left eight persons dead.  The goal is to protest the 
government's economic policies, depressed economic 
conditions, and rising prices of basic consumer goods.   The 
leftist "Force of the Revolution" has also distributed 
posters calling for President Mejia's resignation, but other 
striking groups have disavowed that demand.  Anticipating the 
larger stoppage (and repeating an action a year ago), doctors 
in public hospitals on January 27 walked out to demand higher 
salaries and more equipment and medicines, paralyzing all but 
emergency services. 
 
3. (U) President Mejia appointed an interagency commission 
headed by Labor Secretary Milton Ray Guevara to dialogue with 
the strike organizers, who have refused the offer. Ray 
Guevara said the commission stands ready to meet with them 
"wherever they decide" and expressed readiness to deal with 
the issues, except some demands that would be impossible to 
meet, such as doubling wages or suspending the IMF accord. 
The Archbishop of Santiago supported the proposal of 
dialogue, other church and civic leaders, and officials of 
the three main political parties have called for peaceful 
behavior by strikers and authorities. 
 
4. (SBU) Front-running presidential candidate (former 
president) Leonel Fernandez (PLD), during a campaign march in 
Santo Domingo January 26, told thousands of flag-waving 
marchers that the people "have ample reason to protest" 
because of economic and social problems and claimed that 
President Mejia in seeking re-election intended to "create a 
dictatorship."  PRSC candidate Eduardo Estrella said publicly 
that people had become "desperate" economically and that he 
supported the strike. 
 
5. (SBU) There is widespread anxiety in the media and among 
our contacts about potential violence during the strike. 
Some of our sources claim that opposition parties and PRD 
dissidents are distributing money to agitators to provoke 
violence and make President Mejia look bad.  We have heard of 
telephoned threats to businesses that did not close during 
the November strike, urging them to act differently this 
time.  In a pre-strike demonstration at the Autonomous 
University of Santo Domingo on January 23, students threw 
rocks and burned two vehicles before police took control.  An 
official told us that on the main highway north of the 
capital January 27, protestors blocked the road, beat a truck 
driver, threw rocks at passing motorists, and provoked police 
to fire in the air. 
 
6. (SBU) The National Police will provide the visible 
security presence on streets, with the military kept in 
discreet reserve.  Police began pre-emptive arrests of 
suspected strike organizers January 26 -- a practice banned 
by legal reforms announced in 2003 -- and, according to the 
press, searched the home of a labor leader without a warrant 
January 27.  Police roadblocks on access roads into Santo 
Domingo, to apprehend any weapons being brought into the 
city, caused traffic tie-ups January 27.  Official sources 
told us the police would enter poorer neighborhoods to try to 
confine rock throwing or tire burning to small areas, but 
would withdraw at nightfall.  Consquently, authorities expect 
disorders to increase around dusk.  Police have identified 
several areas of the capital and northern towns such as 
Navarrete and Bonao as likely venues for "intense" protests. 
A detailed list of such locations is available on 
www.usemb.gov.do . 
 
7. (SBU) The work stoppage comes just before expected 
disbursements by international financial institutions and 
against a backdrop of political tension as the election 
campaign gets underway.  The ruling PRD was set to 
reintroduce a bill to amend the electoral law (Ref A) -- 
which most opposition politicians oppose -- in the Senate 
where passage would be guaranteed by an overwhelming PRD 
majority.  President Mejia, following his victory in a 
primary that was boycotted by other serious PRD candidates 
(Ref B), was planning a January 31 convention to confirm him 
as the controversial candidate for re-election.  Vice 
President Milagros Ortiz Bosch, one of the President's 
strongest challengers in the PRD, reassumed her post as 
Education Secretary January 26 and ceased most of her 
campaign activities, prompting speculation that she would 
drop out of the presidential race. 
HERTELL