Nation wide protests and traffic chaos fueled by mining code changes

(PanamaNewsRoom) Protests and demonstrations against amendments to Panama’s mining laws were held across the country on Tuesday,February15 and were continued on Wednesday.

The changes, making it easier for foreign countries to start mining operations Panama, have been condemned around the world, but on Tuesday, they got the thumbs up from South Korea’s president, who had been visited by President Ricardo last year.
Protests and street closings took place In Bocas de Toro, Chiriquí, Veraguas, and across province of Panama.

In San Félix, Chiriquí, some 10,000 members of the Nägbe indigenous community took to the streets, Deputy Labor Minister Luis Ernesto Carles was attacked by a group of enraged protesters that rejected his call for dialogue.
Carles, a candidate for the country’s Ombudsman, had appeared protest on behalf of the government , but had to flee. The protesters have rejected further dialogie after the government’s fait accompli which went through the Assembly in four days and was immediately signed into law by Martinelli.

Carles went to ER at the Rafael Hernández Social Security Hospital in David. "It is sad that, in carrying a message of peace and having fulfilled a promise not to send police to the area, a group of vandals with flags and sticks attacked us," he said.
The group kept the Pan-American Highway in San Félix closed until 6 p.m.

In Panama city university students closed some streets at 12 noon and Iin the afternoon, environmentalists, workers, students, and leaders of civil organizations alike marched along Federico Boyd and later held a vigil outside the El Carmen Church, after blocking all four lanes of Vía España during rush hour.

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Original Source: PanamaNewsRoom

Date Retrieved: February 17, 2011