Saúl Méndez From Venezuela Where He Continues to Spout His Rhetoric’ From Afar

The Panamanian government considers the leader a fugitive from justice after violating his territorial asylum conditions in Bolivia with an arrest warrant issued by the Second Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime. The general secretary of the Single Union of Construction and Related Workers (Suntracs), Saúl Méndez, broke his silence on July 31st through a message posted on the union’s social media. In it, he accused President José Raúl Mulino of leading a “dictatorship in the making,” denounced political persecution, and called for a structural transformation of the Panamanian state through a constituent assembly. 

“The People are Not Condemned”

Méndez rejected the accusations against him, asserting that neither he nor other Suntracs leaders have been convicted. “In my case, I’m not even charged,” he said. He also asserted that when he took refuge in the Bolivian embassy, there was no arrest warrant against him, insinuating a subsequent persecution orchestrated—according to him—by the executive branch. “The ‘little dictator’ is the one who runs the Public Ministry,” he asserted, referring to Mulino without naming him directly.

Criticism of International Reforms and Agreements

The union leader lashed out at the recent passage of reforms that, in his view, divert policyholder funds “to give them to the rich, to Chapman, and to the bankers.”  He also opposed the memorandum of understanding signed with the United States on maritime security, arguing that it would allow the passage of warships without payment. He added to this the reopening of the mine, the possible construction of reservoirs like the Río Indio, and what he considered repeated constitutional violations.

Reports of State Repression and Violence

Méndez recalled episodes of repression in Bocas del Toro, including the murder of a minor and the abuse of women who were allegedly “stripped, shaved, and transported naked.” He also recalled the events of February 12 at the Children’s Hospital, when unionized workers were arrested and, according to his report, one of the detainees was the victim of sexual abuse by a police officer.

Call for Popular Mobilization and a New Democracy

Faced with what he considers an authoritarian advance by the government and its business allies, Méndez called on all sectors of the country—educators, farmers, workers, students, indigenous people, judges, and unions—to join in permanent mobilization. “Power emanates from the people, and we must command respect,” he emphasized.  He insisted on the need to establish a new state through an original constituent assembly, with the power to recall and with citizen oversight.

Warning to Mulino and Final Message

Finally, the union leader issued a direct warning to the president: “Look at yourself in the mirror, Álvaro Uribe Vélez. When your power runs out, because it will, we’ll see if you can continue talking the way you talk and persecuting the way you’re persecuting.”  With a combative tone, Méndez closed his message with a call to no longer vote for “corrupt” people and to build a popular and democratic political alternative from the bottom up.