Panama adds another week of protests and blockades whose effects are beginning to be felt strongly in the country due to road closures and social tension. Everything seems to indicate that the situation could get worse as the dialogue does not seem to advance.
President Laurentino Cortizo set up a dialogue table in Ciudad del Saber, in the country’s capital, but the main protest groups did not attend Thursday’s meeting (14). On Friday (15) the dialogue table was resumed, new demonstrations were recorded in various parts of the country.
The government has sought dialogue, with the Catholic Church as a mediator, with organized groups, associations and representative movements that have protested in recent days.
However, the Associação de Educadores Veragüenses (AEVE) and the National Alliance for the Rights of Organized People (Anadepo) “rejected” and “delegitimized” the dialogue table and called for a new mobilization in Santiago de Veraguas.
Teachers were the first to take to the streets to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the living conditions in the country and with the management of Cortizo, but other groups joined the acts. such as indigenous people, construction workers and health workers.
The president announced the freezing of fuel prices for private vehicles nationwide starting this Friday.
High in fuels
One of the triggers for the protests was the increase in the price of gasoline. that topped $6 a gallon.
Panamanians who are on the streets now have much more demands and ask that the gallon be reduced to US$ 3, that a policy of job creation be developed, that the salaries of high civil servants be reduced and the privileges of government employees be reduced.
The government has already announced a series of measures to try to quell the protests, but the protesters considered them insufficient and the shortages are beginning to be noticed in stores across the country.
government measures
The Panamanian government this week approved new measures that seek to provide economic relief to society by freezing the price of gasoline, putting a price cap on more than a dozen products in the basic basket and implementing austerity measures, the presidency said in a statement.
The Panamanian Council of Ministers approved measures to “stop the increase in the basic food basket and guarantee food supply”.
Among the measures approved is the “price control of 10 products of the basic basket”, as well as the “modification of the tolls of the Panama Canal”.
The government also intends to establish “a process of reducing the State payroll by 10%; the initiation of a voluntary retirement program for public sector employees and the suspension of salary increases other than those established by law”.
Cortizo said Thursday that there are “politicians infiltrated” in the protests: “The protests are part of democracies, but they must not harm us. I am the president of this country. I get a lot of information. There are some people, politicians infiltrated in these movements who are good, but they are being contaminated by bad intentions”.
Source: CNN Brasil
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