DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: NATIONAL WORK STOPPAGE SET FOR

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