Panama Awakes

By Jose Alcoff The Indypendent September 29, 2010

http://www.indypendent.org/2010/09/30/panama-awakes/

Antonio Smith, a 25-year-old "bananero" or banana
worker, hailed from the modest Panamanian town of
Changuinola, smack in an expanse of tropical flatlands
bordering on Costa Rica and the Caribbean Sea. A leader
in the Banana Industry Workers' Union (Sitraibana),
Smith and his fellow workers, mostly indigenous, were
veterans of street actions to defend gains they had won
in wages and working conditions over the years. Smith
was also a member of the Cambio Democratico party and
campaigned for Ricardo Martinelli in his successful bid
for the presidency in 2009.

This past June 12, Martinelli's government pushed Law
30 through the National Assembly after just four days
of deliberation. Named the Chorizo Law, it mashed
together parts of different bills that outlaw union
shops, eliminate environmental impact surveys for
industrial projects, make it more difficult to hold
police accountable for abuses and killings and allow
the permanent replacement of striking workers.

Observers claim Martinelli's government is trying to
undermine Panama's labor laws to help win passage of
the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement, which was signed
in 2007 but has been stalled in the U.S. Congress.
According to a recent report by the Congressional
Research Service, "Panama's relatively high labor costs
(for the hemisphere) and inflexible labor laws can be a
frustration if not an impediment to U.S. foreign direct
investment."

The Chorizo Law's impact was immediately felt in
Changuinola, home to the Bocas Fruit Company, a
subsidiary of the notoriously anti-labor Chiquita
Brands. Bocas announced days after the passage of Law
30 that it would no longer collect union dues from
workers on its huge banana plantations, violating its
contract with Sitraibana. All 4,200 bananeros at Bocas,
including Antonio Smith, launched a 48-hour strike on
July 2.

With the support of the Labor Ministry, Bocas declared
the strike illegal and docked the workers' pay,
including two weeks of back pay. This only inflamed the
protest in Changuinola as banana workers extended their
strike, joined by 3,000 more bananeros affiliated with
a cooperative; students walked out of local public
schools; and trees were felled across streets to hinder
riot police being flown in. Demonstrations grew further
as members of two indigenous communities, the NgaANbe
and Naso, streamed into the town to protest evictions
by Martinelli's administration, which wants to build
hydroelectric dams on their lands.

On July 8, bananeros marched on a local highway.
National police arrived in armor, on foot and in a
helicopter and began shooting teargas and buckshot into
the crowd. Dozens fell. Antonio Smith took his last
breath. Another bananero, Virigilio Castillo, was shot,
handcuffed, beaten and executed by police, according to
a report by Human Rights Everywhere. The government
admitted two bananeros were shot to death, and human
rights investigators said three young children and an
elderly protester died of asphyxiation from tear gas.
Hundreds were wounded, including 47 people who lost one
or both eyes.

ARRESTED MOVEMENT

In the ensuing days, mass protests shut down towns in
Bocas, and the national police arrested 300 union
leaders and activists from around the country; some
were snatched while meeting to plan a response to the
killings. Militants from unions and the left burned
down a local bank, blockaded more streets and took
captive three police who were released within days.

Martinelli cancelled plans to fly to the World Cup in
South Africa, and his government announced on July 11
that provisions in Law 30 relating to labor, the
environment and police would be suspended for 90 days
while it convened a "national dialogue."

Not one to back down, Martinelli told the media the
same day, "We will not allow the banana industry in
Changuinola to disappear, thanks to union leaders . who
have no idea of what democracy is in a country and who
want to end the rule of law." Panama's two main labor
federations held a successful nationwide general strike
on July 13, and battle lines were drawn.

"This is war. Anything can happen now," says Cesar
Santos, an activist based in Chiriqui, just south of
Bocas del Toro province, where Changuinola is located.

MARTINELLI COMES TO TOWN

A white, ultra-conservative grocery chain magnate,
Martinelli seemed an unlikely candidate to capture the
presidency in a historically rebellious country of 3.3
million people, nearly 90 percent of whom are of
African, indigenous or Asian descent. Martinelli
campaigned in favor of a flat tax and neoliberal
policies opposed by most Panamanians. He was nicknamed
Loco because of his hot temper and a rumored bipolar
disorder. His supporters adopted it as a badge of honor
with shirts and bumper stickers declaring "Los Locos
Somos Mas" (The lunatics are more).

Martinelli found an opening in the perennial issues of
crime and corruption and by opposing legislation by his
predecessor, President Martin Torrijos, to militarize
security forces and increase surveillance.

While the Panamanian left is active, it has no
electoral organ. All the major parties are on the
right. Relative to these, Torrijos' party, the
Democratic Revolutionary Party (PR D), is on the left.
The party of the former military regime, the PR D
pushed through the free-trade agreement, favored
privatization, kept a tempered foreign policy and was
socially moderate. But it began to re-militarize the
national police and coast guard in a country whose
constitution, imposed by the United States after it
invaded in 1989, forbids a military. Toward the end of
its administration, the PR D alienated some supporters
by killing three members of Suntracs, the Marxist
construction union.

Like all Panamanian politicians, Martinelli's campaign
against corruption meant cracking down on past
corruption so his cronies could have a freer hand to
skim the treasury. Low voter turnout and an alliance
with personality-based far-right parties secured his
election victory.

And the man who owns a stable of racehorses was off,
bickering with Venezuela, sending Cuban doctors who
provide free medical care packing and supporting the
coup d'etat in Honduras. Martinelli has also come under
fire for trying to appoint partisans to the Supreme
Court and reneging on promises to demilitarize the
police and because many political appointments and
handpicked candidates have been mired in corruption
scandals.

Many Panamanians were especially upset when, in a
meeting with Obama last year, Martinelli opened four
naval bases to the Pentagon. U.S. forces first landed
in Panama in 1846 and were only forced out in 2000
after decades of struggle.

THE CHORIZO LAW

Lenin Montilla, a law student in the capital of Panama
City, says chorizo "may be needed for a lot of recipes,
but you never really want to know what went into it."
That's how the opposition characterizes two new laws
passed in June by the National Assembly after being
ground and molded together by Martinelli. Few
legislators bothered to read them, and the government
tried to bury the official publication in an obscure
document.

Law 30 begins with reforms of the civil aviation
industry and segues to measures such as:

Ending environmental impact studies on projects that
are in the "social interest," whether public or
private, such as highways, hydroelectric dams, and
strip mines.

Banning mandatory dues for workers in union shops,
which makes union-busting much easier by allowing
employers to pressure workers individually to drop out
of the union.

Allowing employers to fire striking workers and
permanently hire scabs. Employers and scabs are then
granted police protection during strikes.

Criminalizing street blockades, which are a daily
occurrence in Panama.

Protecting police from prosecution or pre-trial
incarceration for murder and other charges.

Law 14 was next, offering concessions for mining
companies and requiring nonprofits to conduct monthly
audits online, which could force many small NGOs that
lack internet access to shutter.

The laws have led Panama's leftist social movements to
overcome some of their differences. Thousands of
environmentalists hit the streets in their biggest
protest ever, accompanied by union workers, students
and indigenous activists. Radical unions of the CONUSI
labor federation and the rank and file within the
moderate CONATO federation organized further protests,
accompanied by environmental and feminist groups.

On June 28, a general strike and large marches were
held with different unions organizing their own
actions. Suntracs workers constructing new locks in the
Canal Zone went on strike, and the government pressured
the Spanish-led consortium of corporations there to
fire 48 strikers. The multinational worked out a
settlement and rehired all the workers, but
Martinelli's government has since announced a deal with
the Honduran government to import 5,000 construction
workers, who may be used to replace the militant
Suntracs workers.

Two days after the massacre in Changuinola, 300
movement leaders across the country were arrested, from
radicals like the leader of Suntracs to moderates in
the social security union. Many were arrested in
hospitals after being wounded in protests. Most were
released within hours, but some were held for a week.
Suntracs Secretary General Saul Mendez was among 18
unionists served with warrants for incitement.

"Martinelli has alternated between carrots and sticks
since the massacre," says Federico Escartin, one of
those arrested during the round-ups. The government
began distributing toys and food to indigenous
communities around Changuinola after the killings, but
at the gravesides of Antonio Smith and Virgilio
Castillo thousands gathered chanting, "We don't want
bikes or sacks of rice, we want justice!"

After the banana workers ended their strike on July 11,
CONUSI and CONATO organized a general strike on July 23
that shut down the education and construction sectors
completely, and idled most other industries except
manufacturing. The two federations have organized a
boycott of Martinelli's Super99 grocery chain and the
Valera liquor brands owned by his chief legislative
ally.

While Martinelli's administration called for a national
dialogue, it all but uninvited CONUSI. The National
Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights, an
umbrella group that includes CONUSI, also stayed away,
pointing to the governmentpicked moderates and
businessmen who dominated the meeting. Unity of the
Integral People's Struggle, a moderate coalition
present at the talks, stated that Martinelli's
negotiators offered no concessions to unions and
environmentalists.

In addition, the government is supporting the Chiquita
Brands subsidiary in denying pay for striking
bananeros. It is also trying to push through a bill
that would give Martinelli the power to appoint the
leaders of the Ngaebe indigenous autonomous zone, where
most banana workers are from.

Opposition to Martinelli and other tycoons is pouring
out, with even some business owners opposed to the
anti-labor and anti-environmental laws. The resistance
to Martinelli, who is eyeing changing the constitution
to give himself a second term, is uniting often
disparate elements. With the government relying on an
iron fist, a growing movement says it will not back
down.

Jose Alcoff is a Panamanian-American freelance
reporter. He can be contacted at [log in to unmask]

GLOSSARY

Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD): Political party
founded by the Gen. Omar Torrijos dictatorship in the
1970s. The PRD favors the remilitarization of Panama
and last controlled the presidency from 2004 to 2009.

The National Front for the Defense of Economic and
Social Rights (Frenadeso): Founded in 2003 during the
successful struggle against the privatization of social
security. A Marxist-based umbrella group that focuses
on street actions over electoral politics, it includes
radical student groups, the banana workers union,
construction workers union and CONUS I, the radical
labor federation.

Unity of the Integral People's Struggle (ULIP): Founded
in 2004 by CON ATO , a moderate coalition, ULIP is
connected to the left wing of the PRD.

The National Union Unity Council (CONUSI): The radical
wing of the labor federation. Some 80,000 strong, it
includes banana, construction and manufacturing workers
and the main teachers union.

The National Confederation of Organized Workers
(CONATO): Moderate labor federation of 150,000 mainly
drawn from the healthcare, manufacturing and government
sectors.

Law 30: Also known as the Chorizo Law, this hodgepodge
of various bills would weaken unions and environmental
laws while banning street blockades and making it
difficult to prosecute police officers for various
offenses, including murder.

Law 14: Passed immediately after the Chorizo Law, it
imposed multiyear prison sentences for street
blockades, a daily occurrence in the country, and
stringent audit requirements on nonprofits.

Suntracs: A Marxist union of 40,000 construction
workers, it is the largest union in CONUS I and a
leading force in Frenadeso.

Sitraibana: Approximately 4,000 banana workers,
predominately indigenous, who live and work in Western
Panama.

Democratic Change (CD): Socially conservative, this
party represents the wealthier and whiter sectors of
Panama and it leads a coalition of right-wing parties.

TIMELINE

July 1, 2009 Grocery-store magnate Ricardo Martinelli
assumes the presidency.

June 12, 2010 Law 30 passed.

June 28 First general strike shuts down most of Panama
City as well as many industries, businesses and schools
around the country.

July 2 Banana workers go on strike.

July 8 Police fire on strikers in Changuinola, killing
seven and wounding 439; workers take three police
hostage.

July 10 Attempting to prevent a response to the
killings, national police preemptively arrest 300 labor
leaders, journalists and activists.

July 11 The three police are released, as are most of
the unionists. The remaining arrestees are released by
July 15.

July 13 Second general strike draws wide support after
killing of banana workers.

Aug. 8 Government holds negotiations on the "Chorizo
Law," but excludes all the radical left social sectors.
It agrees to delay implementation for three months.

Aug. 23 Third general strike launched by the radical
unions in CONUSI.

_____________________________________________

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