Word: blancos
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...WORLD, May 7] states that because the Dominican Republic is a democracy and has no leftist guerrilla threat, Reagan praised its stability and offered no more than the $135.7 million U.S. aid package already approved for this year. Actually, as a result of discussions during Dominican Republic President Jorge Blanco's state visit, the U.S. Government agreed to provide additional help to the Dominican Republic over and above the $112.2 million that was planned for this year. At the time of the President's departure, these new commitments brought the total level of economic assistance and guarantees...
Soon gangs of unemployed youths were throwing rocks at stores accused of price gouging. As the rock throwing gave way to looting, the Dominican Republic was plunged into the worst rioting the country has seen in 19 years. President Salvador Jorge Blanco quickly dispatched armored trucks and helicopters to back up police. Soldiers fired into the crowds. According to newsmen on the scene, several agitators suspected of looting were summarily executed. In a battle that lasted two days, 55 were killed, 400 wounded and 5,000 arrested. Property damage ran into millions of dollars...
Resentment against Jorge Blanco, 57, began to grow in January 1983, when he announced the austerity program. The strict measures were imposed on the country by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the price for a three-year bailout loan of $430 million that a faltering economy desperately needed. The Dominican Republic is plagued by 30% unemployment, rising inflation that may hit 60% this year and a $2.5 billion foreign debt. Politicians on all sides felt that the measures placed an unfair burden on the lower classes, whose earning power has decreased by 50% in the past three months...
...Jorge Blanco made a state visit to Ronald Reagan in early April, hoping to secure U.S. support in persuading the IMF to soften its conditions when new loan negotiations began this month. But because the Dominican Republic is a democracy and has no leftist guerrilla threat, Reagan praised its stability and offered no more than the $135.7 million U.S. aid package already approved for this year and eased restrictions on an additional $34 million in direct cash aid. The Dominican Republic now stands to gain $40 million dollars, mostly from a 2.8?-per-lb. duty exemption on its sugar exports...
...help will not come soon enough, however, for the masses who took to the streets last week. Many are enraged at Jorge Blanco for using a heavy hand to quiet the protests. "He was too tough," said a doctor who worked with the wounded. "He could have displayed more humanity and reached out to the people." But government officials remained firm. Jorge Blanco has instructed some of his party members to begin negotiations with unions for salary raises for workers, in hopes of averting further riots. Undoubtedly he wants to avoid a repeat of the uprising that occurred 19 years...