TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Panama protest over lifting of quarantine
Change Size
Members of Panama unions protest against the reopening measures adopted by the Panamanian government after the quarantine that was decreed to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, in front of the Labor Ministry's headquarters, in Panama City on June 2, 2020. The government of Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo, reopened on Monday the construction, non-metallic mining and industry sectors, which were inactive to combat COVID-19, in an attempt to (AFP/Luis Acosta )
T
rade unions took to the streets of Panama City on Tuesday in protest at the government's decision to reopen the country's economy, claiming it will lead to a spike in infections and deaths from the coronavirus.
"We all know that the number is going to skyrocket, both in terms of infections and deaths," said Saul Mendez, secretary general of the country's largest union Suntracs.
"It's like throwing everything the people have suffered into the trash," Mendez told AFP.
Panama, the Central American country worst-hit by the virus with 13,000 infections and nearly 350 deaths, reopened the construction industry on Monday, as well as some mining operations, closed for months as part of a nationwide shutdown.
Mendez said the government's decision to lift the quarantine measures after 74 days was premature and taken purely out of economic considerations and "above people's lives."
Protesters outside the Labor Ministry's headquarters in Panama City said workers were being "sent to the slaughterhouse" because employers and public transport systems had failed to ensure social distancing measures and workplace protection.
The unions called on the government to more gradually ease confinement measures to lessen the possibility of a fresh spike in infections.
They accused the government of seeking to reform labor laws to benefit employers and demanded more aid for suspended workers and for small and medium sized companies.
