Dominican government expands food subsidies to offset rising food prices

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The Dominican Republic has expanded subsidies on basic food staples to maintain calm after deadly food riots recently struck neighboring Haiti.

Trucks loaded with milk, chicken, eggs and other food staples have been rumbling across the Caribbean nation, where almost half of 9.5 million residents live in poverty.

The subsidized food prices are on average 30 percent below supermarket prices. The government recently expanded the effort by selling a US$3 (euro2) package that includes a frozen chicken and 4 pounds (1.8 kilograms) each of potatoes and onions. An estimated 20,000 of the packets are being sold daily, according to a Saturday news release.

Food riots in Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, killed seven people in April and cost the prime minister his job.

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez implemented the subsidies as he seeks re-election this month.

The food packages are a welcome reprieve, according to Vidal Rosario, 34, a handyman who said people in his working-class neighborhood in northern Santo Domingo have been rationing their food.

"It makes life easier on poor people," he said of the deliveries by government trucks at a basketball court near his house.