Panama Declares State Of Emergency Over Deadly Pension Protests
Panama on Friday declared a state of emergency in western Bocas del Toro province, where anti-government protesters are accused of setting fire to a baseball stadium and of looting businesses, including a provincial airport.
The protests that erupted two months ago in Bocas del Toro, a major banana-producing region, intensified this week, culminating in clashes with police that left one person dead and around 30 people, including several officers, the police said.
Over 50 people were arrested over the unrest.
The clashes came after a huge police contingent was deployed to try clear roads that the protesters had blocked with tree trunks for weeks.
The violence peaked in the city of Changuinola on Thursday, where groups of hooded individuals looted businesses and partially set fire to a baseball stadium with police officers inside, the authorities said.
The police said that "vandals" also "took over" the airport, stole vehicles belonging to car rental companies and looted an office and a warehouse containing supplies belonging to US banana giant Chiquita Brands.
The minister of the presidency, Juan Carlos Orillac, said that the government had decided to declare a state of emergency and suspend constitutional guarantees" in all of Bocas del Toro, "in order to restore peace and order."
He said the ban on public gatherings aimed to prevent "radical and criminal groups gathering to organize acts of violence and vandalism which endanger property and people."
Right-wing President Jose Raul Mulino has been facing protests on several fronts in recent months.
Chiquita workers in Bocas del Toro went on strike in late April over pension reforms adopted by Congress in April, which workers say will force them to work longer.
Chiquita sacked thousands of workers over the strike.
The banana growers' unions called off their protest last week in a bid to reverse the layoffs but other groups have remained at the barricades.
Besides the pension reforms, Panamanians have also been in the streets over a deal Mulino struck with US President Donald Trump in April allowing US troops to deploy to Panamanian bases along the Panama Canal.
Mulino made the concession to Trump after the US leader repeatedly threatened to "take back" the US-built waterway.
Mulino has also angered environmentalists by threatening to reopen one of Central America's biggest copper mines. Panama's government declared a state of emergency in Bocas del Toro province after widespread vandalism and looting in the city of Changuinola AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
16 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Panama Declares State Of Emergency Over Deadly Pension Protests
Panama on Friday declared a state of emergency in western Bocas del Toro province, where anti-government protesters are accused of setting fire to a baseball stadium and of looting businesses, including a provincial airport. The protests that erupted two months ago in Bocas del Toro, a major banana-producing region, intensified this week, culminating in clashes with police that left one person dead and around 30 people, including several officers, the police said. Over 50 people were arrested over the unrest. The clashes came after a huge police contingent was deployed to try clear roads that the protesters had blocked with tree trunks for weeks. The violence peaked in the city of Changuinola on Thursday, where groups of hooded individuals looted businesses and partially set fire to a baseball stadium with police officers inside, the authorities said. The police said that "vandals" also "took over" the airport, stole vehicles belonging to car rental companies and looted an office and a warehouse containing supplies belonging to US banana giant Chiquita Brands. The minister of the presidency, Juan Carlos Orillac, said that the government had decided to declare a state of emergency and suspend constitutional guarantees" in all of Bocas del Toro, "in order to restore peace and order." He said the ban on public gatherings aimed to prevent "radical and criminal groups gathering to organize acts of violence and vandalism which endanger property and people." Right-wing President Jose Raul Mulino has been facing protests on several fronts in recent months. Chiquita workers in Bocas del Toro went on strike in late April over pension reforms adopted by Congress in April, which workers say will force them to work longer. Chiquita sacked thousands of workers over the strike. The banana growers' unions called off their protest last week in a bid to reverse the layoffs but other groups have remained at the barricades. Besides the pension reforms, Panamanians have also been in the streets over a deal Mulino struck with US President Donald Trump in April allowing US troops to deploy to Panamanian bases along the Panama Canal. Mulino made the concession to Trump after the US leader repeatedly threatened to "take back" the US-built waterway. Mulino has also angered environmentalists by threatening to reopen one of Central America's biggest copper mines. Panama's government declared a state of emergency in Bocas del Toro province after widespread vandalism and looting in the city of Changuinola AFP
DW
a day ago
- DW
Why justice is crucial in the US-led DRC-Rwanda peace deal – DW – 06/20/2025
Civic society organizations fear the consequences of an agreement that overlooks justice for crimes committed by armed groups, as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda prepare to sign a peace agreement on June 27. The Democratic Republic of the Congo government and Rwanda will be the chief signatories of the peace agreement, with little or no involvement from the rebel groups currently occupying the eastern parts of Goma under the Congo River Alliance. Technical teams from Rwanda and Congo initiated a draft on Wednesday in the US-mediated peace process. Analysts, however, say the sticking point could be the implementation. "The reason why we have a challenge with all these peace deals is because, we keep including clauses for amnesty. It means it is justice delayed," said Kambale Musavili from the Center for Research on Congo-Kinshasa. "What it signals to armed groups committing crimes on the ground is that you can pick up guns and blackmail the Congolese government to negotiations. The Americans are making the same posture, unfortunately they are going to reinvigorate the same militia groups," Musavili added. The conflict in eastern Congo has displaced thousands, especially women and children Image: TONY KARUMBA/AFP Concerns have also been raised about the details of the deal, which are yet to be made public to the Congolese. "What we are experiencing here is not really new. But now, what are the operational commitments that will be put in place?," said Professor Philippe-Doudou Kaganda, Scientific Director of the Center for Research and Study on Conflict and Peace in the Great Lakes Region. "It is precisely here that there is a risk that we will not have a realistic agreement on certain aspects and that could possibly lead the belligerents to strengthen their demands and continue to wage war." Cautious optimism The Congolese civil society is optimistic but cautions thathistory may repeat itself if the deal is not carefully handled. "Certainly, this is an agreement that we are longing for," Hyprocat Marume, President of the South Kivu civil society, said. "But it should have been signed since the capture of Bunagana, instead of letting our people die first and leaving us in a crisis situation." Marume stressed that the Congolese government must help its citizens to live in peace and tranquillity. "Taking up arms to demand positions, we must ensure that this experience never happens again." Previous ceasefires between Kinshasa and Kigali have often failed, but Washington hopes this one will stick and bring economic opportunities. The draft peace deal aims to end fighting in eastern Congo, where Rwandan-backed M23 rebels made significant advances at the beginning of the year, capturing the strategic city of Goma and the town of Bukavu. "The agreement includes provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities, disengagement, disarmament, and conditional integration of non-state armed groups," said a statement posted to the US State Department's website. The deal also includes provisions for facilitating the return ofrefugees and internally displaced persons, as well as ensuring humanitarian access and establishing a regional economic integration framework. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (C) has been leading the peace agreement between Rwanda and Congo Image: AP Will Trump's gamble pay off in the DRC? US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will witness the official signing ceremony next week. The agreement announced on Wednesday builds on a declaration of principles signed between the two countries in April. It will signal a breakthrough for President Donald Trump's administration's push to halt the conflict in eastern Congo and attract billions of dollars in Western investment to the mineral-rich region. However, it is unclear whether the Congo River Alliance — a coalition of rebel groups that includes the M23 — will adhere to it. The Democratic Republic of Congo is hoping to secure peace and security backed by the Americans. In return, the US will benefit from a minerals exchange deal estimated to be worth around $2 trillion (€1.7 trillion), which will be made available to US companies for extraction. In Congo, coveted cobalt mined by child laborers To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Rwanda and Congo twice reached agreements last year under Angola's mediation on troop withdrawal and joint operations against the FDLR rebel group, which Rwanda accuses of perpetrating the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. However, ministers from both countries failed to endorse the deals. Angola stepped down as a mediator in March after several failed attempts to resolve the escalating Rwanda-backed rebel offensive in eastern Congo. Fighting intensified this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels advanced to seize the region's two largest cities, displacing thousands of people. Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 with troops and arms, while Rwanda denies helping the group and says its forces are acting in self-defense. Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu
Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Int'l Business Times
World Bank And IMF Climate Snub 'Worrying': COP29 Presidency
The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries' response to global warming. This anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance. Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes. But nowhere near this amount has been committed. At last year's UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate. Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year's COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to plug the shortfall that includes expectations of "significant" contributions from international lenders. But so far only two -- the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank -- have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev. "We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns," he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week. "We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting" many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap, he added. His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier. But instead they found institutions "very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all", said Azerbaijan's top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev. This was a "worrisome trend", he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources. "They're very much needed," he said. The United States, the World Bank's biggest shareholder, has sent a different message. On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on "dependable technologies" rather than "distortionary climate finance targets." This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said. Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries -- those most responsible for global warming to date -- are obligated to pay climate finance to poorer nations. But other countries, most notably China, do make their own voluntary contributions. Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations. Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to prepare for the climate crisis. The issue flared again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings. European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut. At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030. Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector. Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries. "Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change," he said. The World Bank in particular has done "a huge amount of work" to align its lending with global climate goals. "If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future," he said. The World Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
