Americas Puerto Rico strike supported Thousands demonstrate against the phone company privatisation Puerto Rico is in the grip of one of the biggest industrial disputes in its history as workers protest against the sale of the state telephone company. They successfully blockaded a main road and its entry to San Juan's international airport with hundreds of cars. It's just beginning. Gunmen opened fire on one branch of the bank and protesters planted a bomb that was harmlessly exploded by police outside a provincial branch. Saboteurs have also slashed telephone cables, leaving about 260,000 people without long-distance service.
Union leaders deny that their members are responsible for sabotage and other acts of violence.
The governor's opponents say the privatisation deal is part of his campaign to make the Caribbean island a fully-fledged US state. The government says state enterprises cannot compete in the new deregulated markets. It has already sold hotels and a shipping company and transferred management of prisons and hospitals to private companies. Gov Rossello wants to follow up the telephone sale with those of other utilities, further weakening the waning power of the unions. Union leaders said they hoped the strike would persuade the government to hold a referendum on the telephone sale.