Launch of boycott of Super 99 stores and Seco

Growing opposition to government legislation  has groups including business associations, unions, civil rights groups and environmentalists planning  to try and hurt the President and Vice President in their pocket books. 

Multiple street protests are also planned, and even a general strike if the government pays no heed. At a mass meeting, at the University of Panama on Monday. members of a wide variet of organizations  agreed to boycott the 99 supermarkets owned by President Ricardo Marinelli  and to avoid consumption of liquor produced by the Varela Brothers, makers of Seco (Juan Carlos Varela is Vice President) and all commercial establishments belonging to government officials, as a measure of pressure against newly approved Law 177 and the revocation of the "Law of the jailhouse."

They also promised to march on Thursday, at four o’clock, to the Presidency of the Republic, to deliver a list of demands and if they do not receiving responses, may call for a general strike.

They also approved support of the Humanist Foundation and Environment which organized a march for Wenesday from the Church of Carmen to the Urraca Park. On Monday,June 21, to Indians and peasants from the interior will gather to protest the construction of hydroelectric plants and mining.

Earlier, the National Front for the Defense of Social Security (FRENADESSO) had made an appeal to different sectors of the population to join forces to reject the draft law "9 in 1" presented by the Executive.

The leader Saul Mendez said that this is a "popular resistance struggle," in which all citizens should participate. He said the government wants to, "break the social balance and impose archaic conditions."

The leaders also rejected amendments to the environmental law, given the large number of hydroelectric projects and mining operations that are being made.

New legislation provides that the executive can declare works of social interest, without having to perform an environmental impact study.
Teachers, leader Mario Almanza, urged teachers to support the boycott measure to end the "mockery of the people."

"We have not given a blank check to the President of the Republic to make fun of all workers," he said.

The Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture of Panama (CCIAP) also stated its position at the call of protest.

"All citizens have a right in democracy to speak out peacefully, provided this does not affect third parties," the document says.

He reiterated the rejection of the way the bill was presented and discussed in the National
Gaspar Garcia de Paredes, president of the National Council of Private Enterprise (CONEP), said the public has a right to express their opinion.