On Friday, Panama's Congress passed a law that would allow the sale of state-owned land in a duty-free zone of Colon. The land would presumably be sold to private companies who are already leasing the land from the government. A ten-year-old boy was shot in the stomach and killed during Friday's protests. The emergency director at the hospital where the boy was treated said that another six people were treated for gunshot wounds.
Colon's duty-free zone employs approximately 30,000 people. The government argues that selling the land could raise $2 billion over the next two decades, several times more than it would receive if it simply continued to lease the land. Protesters, on the other hand, fear that the sale of the land will cost them jobs and income. The law requires that 35% of the proceedings from the land sales go into a trust for "social investments" in Colon and that the remaining profits go to the government. (See BBC and AP)
Unfortunately, President Ricardo Martinelli appears to have responded to the protesters in much the same way that President Perez Molina and Harold Caballeros did in Guatemala. After appealing for calm, Martinelli said "agitators" and "small-minded interests" were to blame for the protests. I'm sure that neither president wanted protesters killed in either confrontation. However, their words and their responses to these events tell the police, military, and protesters what is and what is not acceptable behavior.
Unfortunately, President Ricardo Martinelli appears to have responded to the protesters in much the same way that President Perez Molina and Harold Caballeros did in Guatemala. After appealing for calm, Martinelli said "agitators" and "small-minded interests" were to blame for the protests. I'm sure that neither president wanted protesters killed in either confrontation. However, their words and their responses to these events tell the police, military, and protesters what is and what is not acceptable behavior.
