Posted on 07/19/2022 5:34:28 PM PDT by Nextrush
The Pan-American highway was cleared after heavy clashes between crowd control units and protesters keeping the highway closed.
The National Police (PN) reopened the Pan-American highway on Tuesday, on the Santiago bridge, Veraguas province, to guarantee movement of the humanitarian corridor to the capital.
The road was cleared after heavy clashes between crowd control units and protesters who have kept the road closed for more than two weeks.
The demonstrators confronted the police units with stones. The police fired tear gas, managing to clear the road.
Once the road was cleared, the circulation of trucks with supplies and food began towards the capital, the Police said...
(Excerpt) Read more at telemetro.com ...
So you'll forget about inflation and the economy.
In Panama those dung piles don't sell.
People have been protesting for two weeks the high prices of food, fuel and medicine.
Chrome and Windows translate this into English with prompts.
Thanks. As a resident of Western Panama, the situation for normal residents had become criminal. Most of the gas stations were closed and there was no propane gas to buy (which is how many fuel large appliances like ovens). Stores and restaurants were closing. Other stores had reduced supplies because new items were not coming in.
Veteran watchers of Panama say protests are normal and usually they are handled within a few weeks and everyone settles down. I’m hoping everything returns to normal in a week.
Oops. situation had become critical, not criminal.
I just caught an updated report from Telemetro and the protesters are again blocking the Panamerican Highway at the Santiago bridge this evening.
Indigenous groups chipping with the protest tomorrow as well.
This is actually in Chile, right?
Negative, this is in Panama in Central America Santiago is around 75 miles outside of Panama City in the direction of Costa Rica.
aside from the tax component of gas, the government cannot really do much about the cost of energy. I don’t see how the economy functions with 6$/gallon gas, and the related price impact on associated products (food, propane, etc).
traditionally the protests have either been about issues within the government’s nominal control or about external issues intended to focus popular attention and discontent away (i.e. the CZ, SOUTHCOM under its various names, etc)
I fully expected that. But a couple more days of convoys getting through and they’ll give it up. They really have nothing to fight with other than to place their bodies in harms way. Once they see that’s no longer effective, they’ll either give up or return to the normal protest method of burning tires on the highway which is something the police already know how to handle.
The protests (other than the ones over COVID masks and lockdowns) generally break down into two complaints - that the cost of goods is too high (many here live in near poverty) or that the government is corrupt, living too conspicuously well.
Each political party since Noriega was ousted tries to walk the PR line of being a friend of the lower classes while trying to conduct business in a way that satisfies the international investors. The Canal brings billions into the country’s economy but much of it falls into the hands of the bankers who, like most bankers, only care about maximizing investments.
My fear is that a true socialist will take the reins of power, as has happened in Costa Rica, where many of the gringos have fled because the socialists see gringos as somebody to punish rather than somebody to partner with.
notably, I have not seen anyone publish analysis of this but I suspect there in fact has been detailed work by the US and other governments (china, russia, ?) analyzing each country’s economic structure and balance of funds, estimating how much of what kinds of commodity prices will break it and how quickly.
given the external realities, I am not sure what a functioning and competent government could do about what is starting. I have wondered if panama’s spending binge at present is in fact a pragmatic reaction to what is considered an inevitable default regardless of how prudent the government is in the coming months/years.
the little one-hex central american countries are going to have issues.
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