Déjà vu: Minority party convention ends “with chairs flying”

Santo Domingo.- The minority opposition PRI party’s 13th Convention on Sunday smacked of déjà vu, when it abruptly ended “like a party of monkeys- with the smacking of tails.”

The event looked like a page right out of its political alter ego, the opposition PRD party, whose disastrous convention of 1986 also ended "with chairs flying” and even gunfire.

The factions headed by bitter PRI rivals Trajano Santana and Julio Jiménez unleashed the melee as the latter’s supporters tried to prevent the speeches by those partial to Jiménez.

Jimenez said several armed men assaulted his supporters who tried to enter the Hotel Jaragua salon where the even was taking place. “Trajano Santana doesn’t have any interest in organizing a convention with our participation."