Since July 1, tens of thousands of workers, teachers, students, doctors, and members of social movements and Indigenous organisations have been mobilising across Panama, protesting the high cost of living and lack of support from the conservative government. The People United for Life Alliance has presented before the government a list of 32 demands that address the growing economic and social crisis in the country.
The movement is demanding: a freeze on the price of fuel and basic commodities; a rise in salaries and pensions; a freeze on the price of medicines and resolving the lack of supply; a rise in education and healthcare budgets; better working conditions in the education and health sectors; repair of schools, hospitals, roads and other public infrastructure; measures to combat corruption; rejection of the four bilateral United States-Panama military bases; policies to support Indigenous communities and ensure respect for their autonomy; withdrawal of austerity measures and job cuts in the state's workforce, including the voluntary retirement program for public sector employees, among others.
[Compiled from People's Dispatch.]