Politically Motivated Protests And Demonstrations All Over The Place - End Of Day Wrap-Up
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - All day long there have been protests and demonstrations by every little group in town with a cause and a flag. The SUNTRACS came out, as well as a couple of small groups of teachers, the standard pack of about 20 university students, and of course the protesting Indians who were originally spurred on by the PRD. Consider this - in Panama the PRD can always count on about 35% of the vote, more or less. The Panameñistas can command about an additional 15% more or less. So between them then can directly influence about half of the people in this country. Of those a small percentage will be radicalized - just for the sake of argument let's call it 5%. There are more than 2.2 million registered voters in Panama. If you take 50% of that (the PRD and Panameñista likely voters) that gives you 1.1 million. If you take just 5% of those - that gives you about 55,000 radical anti-Martinelli fanatics. Add to that the 100,000 or so protesting Ngäbe-Bugle Indians. If you have that many "troops" you can hold localized protests, shut down streets, get on the news, and generally create chaos and mayhem, in a small country of about 3.3 million people. So, the very vocal and radical minority can "appear" to speak for the majority. I want to see a march of the majority, carrying signs and placards saying "why don't you shut the hell up and go home." Whatever. It's a Panamanian problem. These are just my observations. But anyway, for what it's worth, that's the math of the politics behind these protests. This is being driven by a combination of opposition politicians, working together with environmentalists who don't want either mining or hydroelectric projects in Panama, anywhere. The whole plan was to provoke a response from the authorities, so they could claim it was a "violent repression." This is all nothing more than one, big, fat, banana peel being tossed down for the Martinelli administration to slip upon. Out.
Copyright 2012 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. Go ahead and use whatever you like as long as you credit the source. Salud.
Foreign Minister Roberto Henriquez said this afternoon the government of President Ricardo Martinelli is willing to talk. Henriquez said this dialogue can take place wherever the Indian leadership wants, to end the confrontation between the two parties. The minister warned it is the responsibility of all Panamanians to reach an agreement. He said if they need to talk in a hotel then fine, and the government will pay for the transportation costs and hotel bill of the indigenous group. Henriquez and several other ministers have said the government is willing to hold a dialogue with the Indians who have kept the Inter American highway closed for six days to reject mining and hydroelectric projects in their region. (Prensa)
Near the Vigui river, located on the border between the provinces of Chiriqui and Veraguas, and in the community of Piedra Negra in Veraguas, there have been clashes between riot control officers of the National Police and protesting indigenous Ngäbe Bugle Indians during Monday morning. About 150 natives clashed with the police using sticks and stones, for about an hour, while receiving pellets and tear gas fired by the riot control units. For this reason the passage along the Inter American highway was restricted for a few minutes.
