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 rights. Union leaders have called for a peaceful march from Porras Park on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Ngöbe Bugle leaders have confirmed that protester Jerónimo Montezuma died from a bullet to the chest and others have been injured in clashes between police and protesters in San Felix. Minister of Security Jose Raul Muliono, however, told KW Continente that agents are not carrying firearms. The protesters reportedly set fire to the San Felix police station in retaliation.

Photo of protests circulating on Facebook

The show will reportedly feature a helicopter ride over Panama City and the Caribbean, rain showers, Trump Panama, a group date up the Chagres River to an Embera village and some shocking revelations.

Word on the street is that filming hit a snag when producers discovered that the bachelor was one rose short, because it had been left in the Casco Viejo deli refrigerator after hours. But the show must go on. They found a late-night florist who provided a replacement.

The Bachelor airs tomorrow, Monday, at 8 p.m. (EST) on ABC.

Bachelor Ben Flajnik

This year, the fires have been burning since Friday and have spread rapidly. Firefighters say there is little they can do because of the remoteness of the area, La Prensa reports.

The outline of the India Dormida, which translates as Sleeping Indian, looks like a girl lying on her back gazing up at the sky from certain viewpoints. Legend has it that she laid down in the forest and died from grief over love lost.

No one really knows how the fires start, although hoodlums are often suspected.

India Dormida

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 President, Abdala Bucaram and Haitian de facto military leader Raoul Cedras.

The foreign ministry cited the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights, an international accord on asylum and Panamanian law as reasons for denying Colombia’s request.

See Also: Exiled Colombian Spy Chief Wears Bunny Ears in Panama

Maria Pilar Hurtado

Latin American Tribune Reports.

The new campus and world-class laboratory are designed to build synergy and productivity between staff and visiting scents who study Panama’s flora and fauna to increase knowledge of global change and biodiversity.

“This investment in Gamboa is proof of the trust and commitment that the Smithsonian has maintained with Panama as a result of our excellent, close relationship throughout our 100 year presence on the Isthmus,” said STRI Director Eldredge Bermingham.

The 17.5 acre site sits on the edge of Soberania National Park at the confluence of the Chagres River and the Panama Canal.

See Also: Panama Awarded One Million From Anti-Biopiracy Fund

Smithsonian Gamboa Campus

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 airport to Panama City airports will continue today, Saturday. Rafael Barcenas, Director of the Civil Aeronautic Authority, says that the airlines are assuming the costs of these flights.

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 and mediate, while President Ricardo Martinelli has said that there will be no negotiations as long as portions of the highway remain closed in Chiriqui and Veraguas.

Meanwhile, hundreds of travelers and cargo trucks are trapped on the highway.

The country will receive $1 million to conduct a three-year project at the Coiba Island National Marine Park, exploring the use of plant and animal species in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries.

Researchers will collect samples of plants, fungi and algae that have symbiotic relationships with corals, and bacteria in fresh and sea water in the hope of discovering compounds to create new, natural insecticides or drugs to treat tropical diseases and cancer.

The Nagoya Protocol was signed by 193 countries in October 2010 to tackle biopiracy and share the benefits of research into natural resources in an equitable manner. The University of California, the University of Utah, the US National Institutes of Health, as well as private sector companies based in Japan and the United States will be contributing the rest of the project’s US$3.4 million budget.

See Also: Cancer-fighting Compounds Found on Coiba Island

Coiba National Park / PHOTO EFE Verde

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 writes in La Estrella. “Even self-proclaimed serious media outlets publish material in their classified sections that does not lead to strengthening morality or ethics. These erotic services are easily accessed by children; there are cases in which minors call these suggestive lines, running up large phone bills for their parents.”

Violators of this law, if passed, would face fines up to $5,000.

According to area residents, the fire started at noon today, Wednesday, and is threatening a nearby protected forest and farmland, La Prensa reports.

The El Colmon primary dry forest, set over 370 acres, was designated as Panama’s first protected area in December 1918.