PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS IN SANTO DOMINGO

UNCLAS SANTO DOMINGO 000356 SIPDIS DEPT FOR WHA, DS, WHA/EX, WHA/CAR; DEPT PASS USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV DR SUBJECT: PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATIONS IN SANTO DOMINGO ¶1. Peaceful demonstrations were staged today in Santo Domingo outside the hotel housing USTR-GODR negotiations on a free trade agreement and outside the National Congress. Both were orderly and relatively limited in scope. ¶2. At the Jaragua Hotel, headquarters for the January 12-16 opening round of the bilateral free trade agreement, about 50 demonstrators protested briefly against the proposed agreement and more particularly against expected concessions in agriculture. The demonstration occurred as scheduled and announced. Speaking later that day to the American Chamber of Commerce in the same hotel Chief negotiator Regina Vargo acknowledged the protest event and stressed that U.S. negotiators are seeking to understand Dominican sensibilities on all aspects of the proposed agreement. ¶3. Outside the National Congress a peaceful gathering of several hundred members of civil society non-governmental organizations made speeches, waved banners and carried copies of the Constitution in a protest against a draft bill seeking changes in the electoral arrangements for the May 2004 presidential elections. Well known civic leaders led the gathering. Congress was not in session, since a boycott by opposition legislators meant that no quorum was present. ¶4. These protests were relatively limited in attendance and in scope. Labor organizations have called for a two-day strike on January 27 and 28 (following a national holiday on January 26). There is a possibility of more vigorous protest country-wide on those dates. Economic conditions continue to be difficult, although the country is not currently experiencing the wide-spread electricity blackouts that gave a further stimulus to last November's national strike. HERTELL