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On Feb. 15 some 5,000 members of Panama’s Ngöbe-Buglé Indigenous group held
a day of national protests against changes to the Mining Resources Code that
they said would encourage open-pit mining for metals by foreign companies.
The protests, organized by the People’s Total Struggle (ULIP), started at 10
am in San Félix, in the Ngöbe-Buglé territory in the western province of
Chiriquí.

More than 1,000 Ngöbe people – men, women, and children – took to the streets in different parts of Panama this week to protest a proposed change in the country’s mining law.  Nine Ngöbe people were reported wounded and 22 jailed, including three children.  Environmental and human rights organizations and students carried out parallel protests against the mining law reform at the National Assembly.
 

It’s one down and two to go in our campaign to revoke repressive laws in Panama that threaten the environment and violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples.  If you sent letters or emails for this campaign, you’ve already helped bring about this first victory – thank you! But there’s more to do, so let’s keep up the pressure.

It began on July 2 when workers for the Bocas Fruit Company went on strike because they had not been paid for two weeks. By July 8, police reported 7,000 protesters in Bocas del Toro province, and on July 9 the estimate rose to 10,000. The largely Indigenous population poured out its anger over new laws and government repression by marching and blockading the major roads.  Police cracked down with brutal force, killing at least two and possibly as many as seven Indigenous protesters, injuring and jailing hundreds, and affecting thousands with tear gas.

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