On Feb. 15 some 5,000 members of Panama’s Ngöbe-Buglé Indigenous group held
a day of national protests against changes to the Mining Resources Code that
they said would encourage open-pit mining for metals by foreign companies.
The protests, organized by the People’s Total Struggle (ULIP), started at 10
am in San Félix, in the Ngöbe-Buglé territory in the western province of
Chiriquí. Demonstrators interrupted traffic on the highway leading to Costa
Rica and reportedly attacked Deputy Labor Minister Luis Ernesto Carles, who
had been sent to talk with them. At noon there were demonstrations in front
of the Banco General in Santiago, Veraguas province, and the Aquilino Tejera
Hospital in Penonomé, Coclé province. Actions continued in the afternoon
with protests at the Central Avenue in Changuinola, Bocas del Toro province,
and at Vía España in Panama City.
The National Assembly, which is dominated by the coalition supporting
conservative President Ricardo Martinelli, voted 42-15 on Feb. 10 to pass
the mining law changes, which supporters say will ease the way for foreign
investment in the country. They also insist that the law increases controls
over the mining companies by stepping up incentives, regulations and fines,
and that mining will not be allowed in indigenous territories. But more than
70 Panamanian and international environmental organizations charge that
open-pit mining will have serious effects in a rainy tropical climate like
Panama’s. They have asked the government to carry out a dialogue on the
changes.
Ngöbe-Buglé leaders called on Martinelli to revoke the new law by Feb. 17.
He refused, and on Feb. 18 protesters blocked a bridge over the Pacora River
east of the capital, interrupting the flow of traffic. The demonstrators
fought back with clubs and stones when some 200 anti-riot agents were sent
in to remove them. There were seven arrests and several police agents were
injured, according to José Castillo, police chief for the metropolitan area.
Indigenous leaders set a new deadline of Feb. 23 for revoking the changes to
the law and called for protests to continue. There was a demonstration in
David, the capital of Chiriquí province, on Feb. 19, and a delegation of
Ngöbe-Buglé were holding a vigil over the weekend of Feb. 19 at the National
Assembly building in Panama City. On Feb. 20 an indigenous delegation
interrupted a convention of the Panameñista Party in Chiriquí, forcing Vice
President Juan Carlos Varela, the party’s leader, to hold a meeting with
them.
The social democratic opposition Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD) has
announced that it supports the indigenous demands “publicly and
unconditionally” and will revoke the law if its candidates win the 2014
elections. (Adital (Brazil) 2/15/11; Radio Temblor (Panama) 2/16/11 via
Adital; AFP 2/18/11 via Terra (Peru); Telemetro (Panama) 2/20/11; EFE
2/20/11 via Qué.es (Spain))
Copyright:
Weekly News Update on the Americas
Issue #1068, February 20, 2011
http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com
