Banana workers close bridge in Bocas

Trouble has  returned  to Changuinola, Bocas del Toro,  the scene of bloody confrontations with police last year when at least two workers were killed and hundreds injured.

Banana farm workers closed the bridge over the River Changuinola at 5 a.m. Tuesday,   demanding payment of $400,000, which they claim they are owed in benefits and compensation for having worked for more than 10 years for the San Bosco Group owned by Anel Bolo Flores.

Workers have been staging protests  in the area for two weeks to ask the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development to find ways to pay them what they are owed.  On Monday workers closed the road from Villa 6 Changuinola for nine hours.

They said  will continue with more days of protest and  will remain on the bridge until some authority guarantees that the Flores company will pay at least the last week worked in the company and will undertake to pay compensation.