At least 29 die in Dominican food price riots

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 10

At least 29 die in Dominican food price riots

NZPA-AP Santo Domingo

The Government of the Domincan Republic shut down a radio station and closed schools and universities yesterday as mobs battled the police in a second day of rioting that has claimed at least 29 lives in four cities. Violent demonstrations broke out on Tuesday during a 24-hour strike called by businessmen’s organisations to protest against Gov-ernment-ordered price increases on all imported goods and many basic foodstuffs. The increases were part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a SUSS99 million (SNZ9IO million) loan.

Soldiers were sent in to reinforce police and streetbattles erupted again yesterday as the troops took over key sections of Santo Domingo and moved into the old city zone where scores of shops had been looted.

The police initially used tear gas and warning shots to disperse gangs of youths erecting barricades of burning tyres, but then fired at stone-hurling rioters. They said that four people had been killed on Tuesday, and dozens of others had been wounded.

Reports from the police,

hospitals, and newspapers gave this toll for both days: 17 civilians killed in Santo Domingo — four on Tuesday and 13 dead or dying of their wounds yesterday, six killed in Santiago, 160 km north-west of the capital; five killed yesterday in San Francisco de Macoris, 130 km north of Santo Domingo, and one killed yesterday in San Cristobal, 13km west of Santo Domingo, when a crowd attacked a police station.

Witnesses said that a policeman also had been killed in a shoot-out in Santo Domingo late on Tuesday but that report was not confirmed by officials. They said that several policemen had been injured but listed no fatalities among the security forces. Officials at four hospitals in the capital reported treating more than 100 injured people and said that more victims were streaming into the emergency rooms.

The police had reported 300 arrests on Tuesday, but gave no figures from the renewed fighting yesterday.

At least two buses were burned and there was virtually no public transport. Many stores closed because their employees could not get to work.

A District Attorney, Dario Balcacer Vega, and a squad of soldiers went to Radio Popular, one of the biggest radio stations in the Domincan Republic, and ordered it to shut down. He said that it had disturbed the peace by carrying alarming news about Tuesday’s riots.

Education officials announced that public and private schools in Santo Domingo’s metropolitan area had been closed for the day, including the Autonomous University. Last month the Autonomous University, which is the country’s biggest, was closed for two days because of student demonstrations during a visit by an I.M.F. team discussing conditions for the new loan. To meet the I.M.F. terms, Dr Salvador Jorge Blanco’s Government issued orders last week increasing the prices of all imported goods 200 per cent and varying boosts for a variety of basic foodstuffs. Authorities announced that they had released without charge, two Communist Party leaders, Narciso Isa Conde, and Jose Israel Cuello, who were detained on Tuesday. They said that Hanlet Herman, a Marxist with close ties to Cuba, also had been freed after questioning.