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INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
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LATIN AMERICA
NEWS BRIEFS
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Wednesday 16 March 2011 |
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Transport
Strike
and
Dengue
Deaths
Mark
Week in
Paraguay
Asuncion
- A
strike
by
transportation
workers
that
almost
paralyzed
Asuncion
for over
12 hours
and the
deaths
of nine
people
from
dengue
fever
made
headlines
this
week in
Paraguay.
The
unions
decided
to call
a strike
after
several
days of
negotiations
with the
government
to
demand
that
they are
allowed
to drive
vehicles
as much
as 30
years
old,
among
other
demands.
Organized
by the
Transportation
Workers
Federation,
the
24-hour
strike
started
at
midnight
local
time on
Sunday,
March 7,
and 90
to 95%
of union
members
took
part.
Army and
police
vehicles
were
made
available
for
public
service
to
palliate
the lack
of
public
transportation,
which is
used by
over one
million
people
in the
capital
and its
surroundings,
and
troops
were
deployed
to
prevent
disorder.
After
intensive
negotiations,
the
government
and
union
leaders
reached
agreement
on some
issues
and
others
remained
under
discussion.
Meanwhile,
the
number
of
deaths
from
dengue
fever
rose to
nine and
five
more
were
being
investigated,
after
1,015
cases
were
confirmed
out of a
total of
3,549
reported.
However,
Minister
of
Public
Health
and
Social
Welfare
Esperanza
Martinez
ruled
out
declaring
a state
of
emergency.
She
extolled
the work
of the
medical
personnel
and
urged
the
people
to
collaborate
to curb
the
spread
of the
disease.
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