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Today the people of the Dominican Republic are on strike (huelga), which basically means that many businesses are closed for the day and that demonstrations are taking place in different areas across the country. Fortunatly for us in Casa de Campo this huelga (strike) shouldn’t affect us, it is not however the perfect day to go out of Casa de Campo and explore La Romana. Keep reading to find out more about the strike, what it involves and why it’s taking place…
The strike began at 6am this morning (Monday the 11th of July) and is planned to take place for 24 hours, ending tomorrow morning (Tuesday the 12th of July) at 6am. The ways in which La Romana is currently being affected by this strike are the following:
• many businesses are closed
• many businesses which are open are running on a low capacity
• bus services have been drastically reduced
• there is an increased number of military personnel in the town to keep the peace should any violence occur
As usual, we expect that the strike will be peaceful and uneventful. Nevertheless, if you do not need to travel into La Romana, or travel within the Dominican Republic today, we would recommend spending your time enjoying many of the plentiful activities available within the Casa de Campo resort.
Why strike?
As far as I understand from researching the strike on the internet and asking our employees, the strike is to prevent a new tax package from being approved. The following quote was taken from Dominicantoday.com :
“The call to strike is against the tax package, reduction in the price of foods, medicines, fuels, a 35% wage increase for private and government employees, including police and military, 4% for education, and the blackouts.”