Indigenous Activists Detain Panama's President for 2 Hours

Indigenous Activists Detain Panama's President for 2 Hours




Vice President Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado, President Juan Carlos Varela and Ngabe
Bugle representative Silvia Carrera | Photo: EFE

Published 23 August 2016

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A dozen Indigenous people detained the president of Panama at a school on Tuesday to protest a deal he signed that could lead to the building of a highly controversial Barro Blanco Dam project in Chiriqui Province. Construction on the hydroelectric dam, which is nearly finished, was frozen last year in response to protests.

President Juan Carlos Varela was detained after he was about to give a public speech praising a recent deal with some Indigenous leaders to resume construction. Opponents of that agreement threw stones at police cars, injuring four officers, reported local media.

The president's security team immediately took Varela and Indigenous representative Silvia Carrera inside a nearby school, where they were forced to stay for two hours while the Indigenous dissidents threatened to not let them out until the agreement was "burned down."

The dissidents are part of Indigenous group Movimiento 10 de Abril, or M-10, a movement representing communities affected by the dam. The M-10 denies Carrera the authority to represent them, saying she is “sold to the government."

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Indigenous-Activists-Detain-Panamas-President-for-2-Hours-20160823-0021.html

Best wishes to the natural inhabitants living in the area. This is their home.