Panama police attack mine protesters

[Judi Lynn]

Panama police attack mine protesters
Monday 06 February 2012

Panama police fired tear gas on Sunday to clear blockades of the Pan-American highway erected by indigenous groups protesting at changes to mining laws.

One person was killed and 39 injured in the resulting clashes.

Activists started blocking the key highway linking Panama and Costa Rica a week ago over concerns that amendments to the mining law will enable transnational firms to take over their ancestral lands.

Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said police had broken up the blockades after members of the Ngobe-Bugle tribe refused calls for dialogue.

Protest leader Liborio Miranda said an indigenous man in his twenties had been shot dead in the chest.

More:
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/115077

[Old Troop]

1. I lived in Panama for about 5 years.

Attitudes and treatment of indigenous people was about what you'd expect in, uh, um, the United States?