Indigenous groups plan nationwide road blocks

Indigenous groups plan nationwide protests
PANAMA could be facing major traffic disruptions and confrontations with police if the plans of indigenous leaders. including the closing of The Bridge of the Americas, are carried out on Monday, August 10.
After six months of dialogue held in Tole, Chiriqui, the leaders Ngäbe Bugle who oppose the Barro Blanco, hydroelectric project which rises above the waters of Tabasará River in the district of Tole, announced at aSunday March 9 press conference that they are tired of the “mockery” of the government and will take to the streets to demand the definitive cancellation of the controversial project and its total dismantling reports La Prensa
Clementina Perez Jimenez, the local chieftain and deputy leader of the Mother Tatda Church, announced that the first non-violent resistance will be the closing of the Bridge of the Americas, at 10:00 am.
The closure will be accompanied by prayers and the action will be repeated on the highway , near the Barro Blanco project and at other strategic points that have already been agreed.

The actions will be supported by the September 22 movement which has maintained a camp vigil at the site and where they were neutralized by elements of the National Police who prevented new blocks on the international highway.
The protesters are called for all indigenous peoples of America to support their struggle to rescue what they see as an ancestral heritage. 

Perez Jimenez said President, Juan Carlos Varela is aware that their claims are well founded, so he will be responsible for what might happen when the protests take place. He said they could not be considered intransigent as they participated in all sessions of the dialogue table and nothing was granted.

At the press conference, Perez Jimenez was accompanied by members of the religious congregation Mama Tatdaand leaders of the guna ethnicities, Embera, Bri Bri, Naso and Wounaan, who expressed their full support for the struggle of the Ngäbe Bugle to save the Tasabara River that is sacred and legendary for them.

Marcelo Guerra, president of the National Coordination of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP) issued a call of solidarity to all indigenous organizations worldwide to disseminate the violations to which they werebeing subjected.
He questioned the lack of action by the president who had adopted delaying tactics, “trampling” the native people’s rights.
In the banana district of Changuinola, Bocas del Toro, indigenous leader Ambrosio Martinez, said that at 8:00 am Monday. about 5000 Ngäbe Bugle will close several sections of the Chiriqui Grande highway widely used for international tourism.

The National Police in the province have kept pickets at hot spots such as the bridge over the Changuinola River.