Panamanian Workers Are Being Punished For Anti-Mining Protests
Panamanian business groups and large transnational capital are trying to take revenge on the National Union of Workers of Construction and Similar Industries (SUNTRACS), says Saúl Méndez, general secretary of the union. For several months, the state-owned company Caja de Ahorros has frozen 18 bank accounts of the union, one of the largest in the country, which represents more than 25,000 people. According to government sources, the closure of the bank accounts is due to alleged links of SUNTRACS with terrorist activities.
However, according to Méndez, the freezing of their accounts is an act of retaliation by national and international economic groups that have economic interests in Panama...