Horns blaring, strikers blocked the main highway to San Juan's international airport with cars and trucks Tuesday, the first volley in what threatens to be Puerto Rico's biggest strike in decades.
Riot police who had set up barricades to protect the airport were taken by surprise by the blockade, which began at dawn. Protected by a police escort, tourists had to walk 1 1/2 miles to the airport terminal. Many were loaded down with bags and sweating in the tropical heat.Union leaders expect up to a half million of Puerto Rico's 3.8 million people to join a 48-hour general strike that started Tuesday. The strike was called to protest the sale of the state telephone company. Most joining it are government employees, including utility and health workers.
In preparation for the strike, shopkeepers barred windows with steel shutters, riot police guarded ports and power plants and residents stocked up on water and batteries.
"You'd think we were preparing for a hurricane," one shopper said, her arms crammed with candles and water bottles.
Tuesday's blockade by hundreds of vehicles of the six-lane Baldorioty de Castro cut off the sole highway to the east of San Juan, including Luis Munoz Marin International Airport and the towns of Carolina, Loiza, Rio Grande and the port of Fajardo.
American Airlines said it canceled a 7:30 a.m. flight to Miami because only 59 of its 138 passengers were able to get to the airport. Arriving passengers were able to leave the airport by another route.
Hundreds of tourists have called off vacations, hotels reported. At least one airline, Antigua-based LIAT, canceled flights.