PANAMA
CITY —
Fresh roadblocks went up in
Panama on Monday as social groups turned their
backs on a deal signed with the government to clear the highways in exchange
for a fuel price cut.
اضافة اعلان
After union leaders consulted grassroots
supporters on the deal announced Sunday, it was decided to continue the
protest, said Luis Sanchez, a leader of the Anadepo civic grouping.
“We had warned the executive that we still
have to consult the rank and file,” he told the TVN-2 channel.
The agreement, he added, “was signed under
pressure” and members have opted to continue the mobilization that had seen
trucks and banner-waving demonstrators paralyze the strategic Pan-American
Highway.
“In the meantime, there is no agreement,”
said Sanchez as he tore up a sheet of paper.
On Sunday, the government and some protest
leaders announced a deal to end more than two weeks of demonstrations over high
fuel prices and rising living costs in the country of 4.4 million people.
The biggest protest Monday was in the capital
Panama City, with members of the Suntracs construction union closing access
roads with burning tire barricades, causing massive traffic backups.
There were also new blockades of the
Pan-American Highway that connects Panama with the rest of
Central America and
is the main transport route for goods through the country.
The protests have led to shortages of fuel
and food in some areas.
“We are in a bad way; no food, no buses. I
wanted to buy rice and... what little can be found is very expensive. The
vegetables are bad,” said Angelica Ruiz, a resident of Pacora, east of Panama
City, who also had trouble getting to work.
The government agreed Sunday to cut the price
of petrol to $3.25 per gallon and pursue talks on lowering food and medicine
costs that were key among protesters’ concerns.
Last week, it had already reduced the petrol
price to $3.95 from $5.20 per gallon in June, but this was not enough to
appease the demonstrators.
After Sunday’s announcement, several unions
said the agreement was inadequate and had left out many groups.
“We will stay on in the street,” said
protester Juan Morales, a farmer from Capira, west of Panama City.
“We will not weaken. We need strong and
positive answers,” he told AFP.
Suntracs general-secretary Saul Mendez called
for negotiations that included all groups to discuss “the most pressing issues”
in Panama.
Those issues include reducing the costs of
fuel, food, medicine and electricity, he said, as well as a general increase in
salaries and greater public investment in education.
The protests come as Panama faces difficult
economic conditions, with inflation of 4.2 percent recorded in May, along with
an unemployment rate of about 10 percent and fuel price hikes of nearly 50
percent since January.
Despite its dollarized economy and high
growth figures, the country has a high rate of social inequality.
The renowned Panamanian singer and activist Ruben
Blades spoke out about the protests on Monday, saying that the demonstrators’
economic demands did not go far enough to address the country’s problems.
“The people have not demanded what we really
need: the substitution of the corrupt and outdated political paradigm that
destroys us morally and economically,” he wrote on his personal blog.
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