Bananama Republic (https://www.bananamarepublic.com/tag/suntracs/)
As much as Martinelli is the product of the internal rot of Panama's entrepreneurial and political class, the violence and shoplifting are the result of decades of ignoring Colon, of ignoring the fact that Panama has one of the highest differences between rich and poor in the hemisphere, of allowing massive corruption and exploitation.
What we're seeing is protest that goes beyond coercing the government into dropping its CFZ sales plans. It's no longer against one piece of misguided policy; it is against Martinelli himself, his accomplices, against the constant abuses, the broken promises, the violence, the unprecedented mega-corruption and the fact that the highest economic growth in Latin America has not done anything to close the gap between rich and poor.
As we are entering the third day of street battle and protests after the police started to crack down on Ngöbe protesters with live ammo and teargas, we're blogging events live here as they happen.
SUNTRACS leader Sául Méndez isn’t slowing down the struggle, and today announced yet another initiative against the corporate interests that threaten the livelihoods of working people: He’s taking on the media.
The right-wing fascist bile being spouted on the web these days by the lunatic fringe of the Republicans Abroad crowd makes it dangerous for every foreigner to move around in Panama.
Police in Bocas kills four and wounds tens of unarmed protesters; trying to arrest union leaders for "disrespecting the president"; more journalists arrested in accelerating repression in Panama.
If you're in opposition against a government, what you want to accomplish is its isolation: It's physical isolation, its mental isolation and its moral isolation. With barely a year in office, the Martinelli government is already visibly suffering from all three forms of isolation.
In any normal country, this company would be sued for damages well into the many millions of dollars for security failures and responsibility for the death of the taxi driver. But this is Panama, the country of "los groceros somos más" where rich maleantes always get away with everything.
SUNTRACS will close 22 streets the coming weeks. Mulino responded furiously, but he can't win this one if the protesters play it right.
Our beloved president Ricardo Martinelli is trying to do a political version of the famous Leonard - Duran II boxing match which, as you may remember, ended with the Panamanian Roberto Durán begging "no más, no más".