Rising Fuel Costs Provoke Transportation Strike in Nicaragua (Upside Down World)

Written by Mneesha Gellman and Josh Dankoff Monday, 12 May 2008

Within minutes of rescuing us from the blazing sun of downtown, Jose Briceño Perez, a driver in a Nicaraguan taxi cooperative in the capital of Managua, made it clear that he was less than content with current government policies concerning fuel prices. "The money we pay for gas, it just goes to corruption."

May 5th marked the beginning of an intended thirty day strike, with more than 1.5 million public transport workers and truckers in Nicaragua protesting rising fuel costs and the lack of government impetus to do anything about it. (1) With road blockades in several places in Managua and almost no public intercity transport allowed whatsoever, Nicaragua is at an effective standstill. Containers full of goods sit stalled on the sides of highways, and even sports teams have cancelled weekend matches. When baseball is put on hold in Nicaragua, you know it is serious.

While many hope an agreement will be reached between the government and the transport workers prior to the planned month-long strike, several Nicaraguans we spoke to say that the situation has to get worse before it gets better. A 1999 transportation strike left two people dead and 48 wounded before a resolution was reached. (4)

For the complete article and pictures, go to http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1279/1/