Monthly Archives: February 2011

Journalist Arrested at Protest, Repatriated to Spain

February 28, 2011
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Journalist Arrested at Protest, Repatriated to Spain

President Ricardo Martinelli has accused Spanish journalist and activist Paco Gomez of instigating the indigenous protestors against the recent reforms to Panama’s mining code. “There is a difference between a journalist and an agitator. A journalist is someone who reports it like it is. A person who becomes an activist, goes into the street and incites violence is something else, “ said Martinelli. Gomez, writer and columnist for La Prensa newspaper and representative of the Human Rights Everywhere organization, was arrested on Saturday…

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Pirate Henry Morgan’s Cannon Found in Panama

February 28, 2011
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Pirate Henry Morgan’s Cannon Found in Panama

As Welsh privateer Henry Morgan approached the San Lorenzo Fort at the mouth of Panama’s Chagres River in 1671, several of his ships wrecked against the Lajas Reef, including Morgan’s flagship Satisfaction. This week, a team of U.S. archaeologists announced the recovery of six cannon believed to be from the shipwrecks, providing the first tangible…

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Mining Protests Continue, Authorities Respond

February 27, 2011
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Mining Protests Continue, Authorities Respond

Anti-riot police and anti-mining protestors clashed along the Pan-American Highway in Veraguas on Saturday, leaving a number of people injured, arrested and stuck in traffic. The Ngöbe Bugle indigenous peoples,who object to the recently approved reforms to Panama’s mining code, blocked the highway at 10 a.m.  The police arrived and started shooting tear gas and rubber…

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Presidential Clunker Sells for Parts

February 27, 2011
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Panama’s Ministry of Economy and Finance finally sold off the Gulfstream II HP-1A that Ricardo Martinelli once referred to as a “clunker of a presidential plane.” Built in 1969, the plane sold at auction for $227,000, or half the original asking price, to the Aviones y Partes.com Panama S.A. company – a company that specializes in…

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City Must Pay for Losing Dead Body

February 24, 2011
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The City of Panama will have to pay $115,000 in compensation for the “loss and destruction” of the remains of Robert Anthony Ashley. The lawsuit was filed by lawyer Guillermo Quintero Castañeda against the Panama City Mayor’s Office, the Department of Municipal Businesses and the Department of Funeral Services for the loss of human remains. Ashley’s widow will receive $65,000 and his two children, Linda and Roberto Antonio, will receive $25,000 a piece. Ashley died in April 2001 at age 37, and his…

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