Indigenous protesters claim persecution
Indigenous protesters claim persecution
A small of the April 10 Movement, farmers and traditional Ngäbe-Buglé leaders walked Sunday afternoon from the town of Tole, Chiriqui, to the Pan American Highway, to call for, the cancellation of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project.
The Indians, who had announced a massive mobilization by the government's decision to call in experts to study the project without stopping the work, said they felt cheated and disenfranchised by the judicial, cultural and environmental systems
Under the gaze and surveillance of agents of the National Police and crowd control agents, the small group of protesters arrived just after 2:30 pm to the Pan American Highway,, where after shouting some slogans. demanded the cancellation of the work, to save their rivers, their culture and the environment.
Manolo Miranda of , April 10th Movement, claimed that the leadership feels harassed and persecuted, especially when they have been fighting for years against strong economic and political power, which wants to take their land and way of life.
"Today in this place we have felt the harassment from strangers, who from very early on have mounted surveillance and persecution of our members, causing fear in some of them," said Miranda.