The weariness due to the rise in fuel prices and some cases of institutional corruption threaten to destroy the stability of Panama, in one of the the largest waves of protests in the country in the last three decades.
“The cost of living is what has the people on the streets, the people ask for social justice,” says Sergio Gallegos.
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The reasons for the protests
He is one of the thousands of people who have protested in the last two weeks to demand that the government intervene and contain the prices of basic basket products and medicines.
The protests have led to the closure of public schools and calls for strikes. Most of the marches have taken place in a festive atmosphere of dances and songs, a scenario of 4.2% year-on-year inflation registered in May and an unemployment rate of around 10%.
In addition, the price of fuel has increased by 47% since the beginning of the year, currently costing $5.17 per gallon of gasoline (3.78 liters).
During the claims, the Inter-American highway, a vital route for the connection with Costa Rica and the transport of goods throughout Panama, has been partially closed.
The situation has set off the alarms of the government and businessmen, who fear millionaire losses and see trade, tourism and economic recovery after the pandemic threatened.
“The problems are not only from one sector. The problem is from all Panamanians who are suffering,” warns the Guna indigenous and chief general, Rengifo Navas.
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Thus, Panama is experiencing one of the greatest social crises since 1989 when The military dictatorship of General Manuel Antonio Noriega fell after the US invasion.
“We are in an unprecedented social explosion,” Enoch Adames, professor of Sociology at the University of Panama, told AFP.
The protests forced President Laurentino Cortizo to reduce the price of fuel on Monday. Starting Friday, a gallon of gasoline will be $3.95.
Social discontent
“The discontent is generalized and the repudiation of the government is universal,” adds Carlos Guevara-Mann, a political scientist and historian from the Panamanian branch of Florida State University.
With a dollarized economy and services, an interoceanic canal -which contributes more than 2,000 million dollars annually to the national treasury-, high rates of economic growth and alternation in power, Panama has experienced relative political and social stability since 1989.
The Panamanian economy grew by 17.8% in 2021 and 13.6% in the first quarter of 2022.
Nevertheless, The country has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world, half of the employment is informal and there are great deficiencies in health services, education and access to drinking water.
“The social explosion is strongly conditioned by the structural crisis, both of the model of growth without development and by a political order of privileges that is highly concentrated in resources and decisions,” says Adames.
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“There is an accumulation of unsatisfied demands that is what has caused the protests, but the trigger has been fuel prices“, adds for his part Harry Brown, director of the International Center for Political and Social Studies.
For Brown, the Panamanian protests are similar, in objectives, to those that have recently occurred in Ecuador, Colombia and Chile. “We can place them in the context of the claim throughout the region for a better distribution of wealth.”
requests
In addition to the reduction in the price of gasoline, Cortizo also promised to freeze the price of a dozen products in the basic basket, to reduce the expenses of officials and to cut the number of public workers by 10%.
“Since he (Cortizo) pretends that with 10 foods from the basic basket that he wrote down we will be able to survive, it is impossible,” laments law student Wendy Ramos.
The unions ask Cortizo for greater efforts, despite the fact that the accumulated public debt by 2022 could exceed 44,000 million dollars.
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In recent days, criticism has also increased against the salaries of authorities, corruption scandals and the expenses of parliamentarians, some of whom were involved in the controversy after a video was leaked in which they appear celebrating with a whiskey whose value around 400 dollars.
“There is a deep component of social dissatisfaction and frustration at the degradation and corruption of a greedy and rapacious political class,” says Guevara-Mann.
The demonstrations occur at a time when Cortizo is facing blood cancer. The president has two years of management left in the midst of uncertainty.
call for dialogue
This Wednesday, the Government of Panama convened, with the mediation of the Catholic Church, a space for dialogue with all sectors that protest with marches and blockades due to the high cost of living and what they consider waste in public administration.
The Executive of President Laurentino Cortizo invited to participate in the table, which will be installed this Thursday, “the representative groups, associations and movements that have manifested themselves in different parts of the country in recent days, so that together we find viable and feasible solutions to the problems that afflict society”.
“The Catholic Church, through Archbishop José Domingo Ulloa, has offered to serve as a facilitator in this dialogue, which is timely,” an official statement said.
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The Archdiocese of Panama said in a statement that the Catholic Church “accepts the invitation to be mediators in building the necessary consensus for peaceful coexistence.”
“We urge all those summoned to this dialogue to give us an opportunity to make the appropriate decisions for the common good. The people deserve honesty, coherence and respect from all, without rigid positions or preconditions that prevent dialogue,” the Archdiocese stressed. Panamanian.
UN calls for dialogue
For its part, the United Nations System in Panama on Wednesday called on the Government and the different unions and social organizations to “find consensus” that contributes to “restoring calm in the face of the protests, strikes and closures that occur throughout the country. “.
The United Nations System expressed that “the closures of the main roads that connect the country are affecting the basic needs of the population”, for which it urged “to keep the roads open to guarantee access to food, health and education, in addition to humanitarian and other services of a vital nature for people”.
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People have the right to demonstrate peacefully
The world entity maintained that “people have the right to demonstrate peacefully, express their opinion and participate in public affairs that concern them, in accordance with the rights recognized in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama and national laws”.
He also urged “the State to continue guaranteeing security and conditions for the exercise of human rights of the general population, including those who demonstrate.”
“The United Nations System reiterates its commitment to the State and society in general, and makes itself available to support the country in its efforts to find inclusive, participatory and peaceful solutions,” added a statement from the agency.
*With information from AFP and EFE
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