A person died on Tuesday in Panama after sustaining a back injury during ongoing protests against a controversial pension reform, according to an official source. The incident occurred in the town of Rambala, in the Caribbean province of Bocas del Toro, near the Costa Rica border. Authorities have not released further details about the victim.
After dispersing a protest with tear gas, police “discovered a citizen lying in the road” with “a back wound,” stated Deputy Security Minister Luis Felipe Icaza at a press conference. The individual was treated by paramedics and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Icaza emphasized that Panamanian police “do not use lethal weapons” to control protests. However, the University Student Reform Association accused the government of President José Raúl Mulino of committing a “crime” and issued a statement expressing “absolute outrage over the murder of a fellow activist.”
Since Saturday, police have been working to clear roads blocked by masked protesters using logs and stones at over 30 points in Bocas del Toro. Government footage shows demonstrators clashing with police using stones, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails, while police respond with tear gas.
So far, over 50 people have been detained in connection with the protests. More than 1,300 police officers have been deployed to the area. The Mulino administration is facing nationwide protests over a pension reform law passed in March, which is opposed primarily by construction unions, teachers, and Indigenous groups.
Critics say the reform raises the retirement age and privatizes pensions—claims the right-wing government denies. Bocas del Toro has seen the most intense confrontations, particularly involving road blockades led by banana workers from the U.S.-based company Chiquita Brands. However, these workers have since withdrawn from the protests after negotiating a new law that restores the benefits previously removed by the pension reform.
Amid the unrest, Panama’s top union leader, Saúl Méndez, has requested political asylum at the Bolivian Embassy, while other labor leaders have been detained and placed in pretrial detention.
