Ministers Face Legal Woes in Bocas del Toro Conflict

Defenders of Bocas del Toro’s banana worker human rights filed a new criminal complaint against government ministers related to the violent July 8 to 11 protests, which they say resulted in “brutal police repression.”

The legal action called for the investigation of Public Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino, Minister of Labor Alma Cortes, National Police Director Gustavo Perez and Bocas del Toro Chief of Police Didier De Gracia, La Prensa reports.

Official numbers indicate that two people were killed and over a hundred injured during the protests against Panama’s controversial Law 30. The filing organizations include the Department of Indigenous Affairs of the opposing Democratic Revolutionary Party and the University of Panama’s Popular Youth Movement.

The lawyers from the People’s Union Movement presented their suit on Monday and continue to file complaints logged by banana workers who participated in the conflict.