North region industries defy Dominican Republic’s ‘owners’

Santiago.- "Vandalism by a mafia" is what the Santiago Business and Industries Association (ACIS) called the Guayubín (northwest) truckers union’s attempt to force businesses and industries to assign 50 percent of the freight in the region.

The ACIS complaint comes just one day after two truckers unions staged a conflict over control of freight into Haiti, with dozens of rigs parked along the capital’s Malecon, an incident which adds to their moniker as the country’s “owners.”

In a press conference Monday ACIS president Sandy Filpo said the truckers extort companies to try to force freight contracts despite having enough of their own vehicles protected by free transit laws.

Accompanied by ACIS executives Jose Antonio Peralta, Felix Garcia and Carlos Eduardo Nunez, Filpo accused Guayubín’s truckers union of threatening to halt vehicles owned by businesses from moving freely in the Northwest.

Filpo warned however that Santiago’s business sector won’t rest until they break the freight monopoly in the Dominican Republic.

"We do not accept blackmail or pressure to compel carriers to handle the loads, because it is unconstitutional," and asked the authorities to protect businesses since the “truckers mafia needs to be stopped.”