Thousands of people marched in Panama on Friday to protest the arrest of two trade-union leaders who have spearheaded demonstrations against the right-wing government of President José Raúl Mulino. Two officials from SUNTRACS—the country’s largest construction union—are being held on money-laundering charges, while the union’s left-wing chief, Saúl Méndez, has sought asylum in the Bolivian embassy to avoid detention.
The unionists deny the accusations and call them political persecution by the Mulino administration. On Friday, demonstrators moved peacefully along the capital’s coastal avenue toward the presidential palace, waving Panamanian flags under police watch. “Our leaders have been brutally repressed because the government will not tolerate our protests against its neoliberal policies,” said union member Héctor Hurtado.
Veteran SUNTRACS figure Genaro López was arrested Thursday, following last week’s detention of fellow member Jaime Caballero. On Wednesday, Méndez took refuge in Bolivia’s embassy. Prosecutors, accompanied by masked police, have raided SUNTRACS offices and issued arrest warrants for other union leaders, though their names have not been released.
“There is political persecution in the country. Our comrades are being prosecuted without sufficient evidence,” said Ronaldo Ortiz of the popular organization Frenadeso. For nearly a month, Mulino has faced strikes by construction and banana workers and protests in several cities; public-school teachers have also walked out.
Unions oppose a recent Social Security overhaul and other Mulino measures, including an agreement allowing U.S. troops to help protect the Panama Canal. The president refuses to negotiate with SUNTRACS, calling it “a mafia,” and insists prosecutors—not the government—ordered the arrests. “I don’t investigate anyone or order anyone’s arrest,” Mulino said Thursday.
Even so, teacher Damaris Frutos, 59, said during the march that authorities “intimidate our leaders in order to weaken the unions.”
