Construction workers of the SUNTRACS union protested in Panama City on Saturday, joining demonstrations against mining activities in Ngöbe Bugle territory. Anti-riot police arrived around 8 a.m. with tear gas and took 33 of the workers into the La Joya penitentiary. SUNTRACS lawyers say the arrests are an illegal intimidation tactic and a violation of human...
Panama turned down Colombia’s request for extradition of former spy chief Maria del Pilar Hurtado. Hurtado faces charges of criminal conspiracy, illegal wiretapping, diversion of public funds and falsifying documents in Bogota and was granted asylum in Panama in November 2010. Also living in asylum in Panama are former Guatemalan President, Jorge Serrano Elias, former Ecuadoran...
Copa, Air Panama and Aeroperlas began air evacuations of people and perishable products from the indigenous protest areas on Friday. Travelers and cargo have been trapped in Chiriqui and Veraguas since Tuesday when thousands of Ngöbe Bugle peoples shut down the Inter American highway to protest of mining activity in their territory. The air evacuations from David...
Members of the Ngöbe Bugle indigenous tribe have shut down the Inter American highway in protest since last Tuesday. Protesters say that they will continue until the government restores a mining and hydroelectric project moratorium within their territory. Vice President Juan Carlos Varela has called on the archbishop of David, Jose Luis Lacunza, to step in...
Deputy Victor Juliao presented a bill to ban ads with sexual content from the printed media. He says that the law does not undermine people’s freedom of expression or right to information but simply seeks to protect them from overly sexy ads. “We are bombarded with ads that promote behaviors disconnect from morality,” Juliao...
