PANAMA CITY (Reuters) -Panama’s government on Friday temporarily suspended some constitutional rights in the western province of Bocas del Toro hours after businesses and government offices were ransacked, following more than a month of protests and road blocks over a pension reform law.
“In the face of the disruption of order and acts of systematic violence, the state will enforce its constitutional mandate to guarantee peace,” said Juan Carlos Orillac, minister of the presidency. The measure will be in place for five days, he said.
The government said the situation in Bocas del Toro had “escalated dangerously” after the violence on Thursday.
Nationwide, protesters – backed by unions and Indigenous groups – have faced off with authorities over a pension reform law passed in March. Confrontations have been particularly intense in Bocas del Toro, largely led by workers at a local Chiquita banana plantation.
Chiquita called the workers’ strike an “unjustified abandonment of work” and sacked thousands of employees.
Those workers ultimately withdrew from the protests after they were able to negotiate the restoration of some benefits that had been removed under the March pension reform.
Still, the government has said road blocks in Bocas del Toro have yet to be lifted, though it did not directly attribute them to the Chiquita workers.
(Reporting by Elida Moreno; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler)
