Ombudsman opens investigation into workers disappearance

Panama’s Ombudsman has opened an investigation into the "disappearance" of Valentin Palacio a striking  indigenous worker in Bocas del Toro who has been missing for 40 days following reports that he has been arrested by the police during the recent confrontations.
Next week, starting August 23, a committee of indigenous people will travel to Panama to denounce abuses committed by police in Bocas del Toro.
Members of the Ngäbe Bugle Congres reported that despite their efforts they have not been able to find or talk with Palacio
Meanwhile a former victim of the Military Dictatorship, Mauro Zuniga, who as secretary general of the Association of Physicians, Dentists and Allied Social Security Fund (Amoacss). was arrested and tortured, and has warned that Panama is moving to a civil dictatorship.
He was in the interior to study reduced spending on health and education while military spending increased.

Zuniga, who is now 67 years old, has retired from practice and is a researcher at the University of Panama.

He has criticized the "jailhouse", law which punishes with up to two years in prison on a street closure and the the “sausage” law 30 He was one of the leaders who attended the Supreme Court to file a habeas corpus against the police chief, Gustavo Perez to discover the fate of Palacio.
He believes the Executive. dominates the Assembly, the Supreme Court, the Public Ministry and the Comptroller.

"He has shown contempt for the Constitution and the law. Examples are the cases of Ana Matilde Gomez and Bocas del Toro, where people were killed, wounded and tortured, and to date no person has been arrested and he has not dismissed the Minister of Security, the Director of the Police or the Minister of Labor, which precipitated events in Bocas "he said.