Overview

• Panama’s government has imposed a five-day suspension of constitutional rights in Bocas del Toro province.
• The measure followed a violent escalation in which protesters ransacked businesses and government offices.
• The unrest is part of a nationwide campaign against a pension reform law passed in March that unions and Indigenous groups oppose.
• Workers at a local Chiquita banana plantation led intense confrontations and were sacked for what the company called an unjustified strike.
• Roadblocks persist despite some sacked workers withdrawing after securing partial restoration of pension benefits.