Dominicans strike over bad economy

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- Businesses shut down, schools closed and streets emptied for a 48-hour strike Wednesday to protest the Dominican Republic's worst economic crisis in decades.\nPolice fired warning shots to disperse protesters who pushed flaming barricades into the streets. A similar strike in November left six dead.\nDespite pleas from President Hipolito Mejia to spare the country another economic blow, more than half the nation's major businesses closed and some government workers stayed home.\nThe strike comes amid criticism over Mejia's re-election bid and his failure to improve the country's deteriorating economy.\nIn the past three years, inflation has topped 42 percent, the Dominican peso has lost more than half its value against the U.S. dollar and the unemployment rate has risen to more than 16 percent.\nThe bleak economy has prompted an exodus of Dominican people boating to the United States. This month alone, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted more than 1,000 Dominicans, compared with 190 a year ago, according to the U.S. Coast Guard in Miami.\n"People are leaving because they can't buy things like food," said Dominican navy spokesman Sammy Tijaba.\nIn the past year, prices of gasoline and staple foods such as rice and eggs have almost doubled. A year ago, a gallon of gas was $1 -- it now costs more than $2. Rice used to cost 13 cents per pound -- today it costs 48 cents. Many Dominicans blame the government for failing to rein in the inflation.\n"We are sending a clear message that the government needs get rid of its arrogant attitude" said Ramon Perez Figuereo, a strike leader.\nThe government says it is doing all it can.\n"They are asking for magic but we can't produce that," said Mejia spokesman, Rafael Peralta.\nMejia seems determined to press for a second term despite mounting troubles in the Spanish- speaking nation of 8.8 million.\nTwo years ago, his top aides pushed for a change that overturned a single-term limit instituted in 1994 under U.S. and domestic pressure to end authoritarian rule in the Caribbean nation.\nThe change cleared the way for him to run for re-election, but the country's deteriorating economy and political unrest spoiled his chances of convincing his party to nominate him as its sole presidential candidate for the May 16 presidential ballot.\nFacing a potential defeat in the primary, Mejia pushed for an electoral change to allow for more than one party nominee to run in the election -- but the measure proved unnecessary in the end.\nAll of the serious presidential contenders from his Dominican Revolutionary Party boycotted the Jan. 18 primary, alleging that Mejia rigged voter lists to ensure a victory.\nSeveral polls show Mejia losing badly to former President Leonel Fernandez, the candidate of the opposition Dominican Liberation Party.\nChanging the constitution or electoral laws can be political dynamite in the Dominican Republic, where murderous dictator Rafael Trujillo ruled from 1930 until his assassination in 1961.\nHe was succeeded by Joaquin Balaguer, brought to power by a U.S. invasion to halt a leftist revolution. Balaguer was president for seven terms despite allegations of electoral fraud and human rights violations, until term limits forced his retirement.\nFernandez won the 1996 elections and oversaw an economic boom with an annual 8 percent economic growth rate. But the benefits did not trickle down to the poor, and Mejia's populist rhetoric propelled his 2000 election win.\nUnder Mejia, however, the external debt has risen from $3.6 billion to $7.6 billion with little to show for the borrowing binge.\nMejia says the economy has been hurt by the world recession and a fraud scandal at three major banks that cost the treasury $2.2 billion.