#Demonstrators #Panama #abandon #part #highway
Panama’s government and indigenous leaders agreed Sunday to clear protesters from part of the Pan-American Highway in exchange for lower fuel prices, but other stretches of the strategic route remained blocked by protesters demanding more concessions.
The government released footage of the signing of the agreement at a church in far western Chiriqui province, where most of the Central American country’s food is produced, and the clearing of a blocked section of the highway.
Two weeks of revolts in Chiriqui and elsewhere in Panama over high prices and corruption have made it difficult to feed the country.
Despite that deal, most of Panama’s stretch of the Pan-American Highway, which connects the country of 4.4 million people to the rest of Central America, remained clogged with large trucks and swerving protesters on Sunday.
Government delegations and protesters met again at a school in the city of Santiago de Veraguas, 250 kilometers southwest of Panama City.
“We call on all sides that we can reach an agreement today and, above all, clear the roads,” government ombudsman Eduardo Leblanc said at the talks.
A deal was reached on Saturday to lower the price of petrol, but protesters are demanding price cuts on around 40 consumer goods and medicines.
“We continue to fight,” said protesting farmer Juan Morales in Capira near Panama City.
In May, Panama recorded annual inflation of 4.2 percent, along with an unemployment rate of about 10 percent and a nearly 50 percent increase in fuel prices since January.
Despite the dollar economy and high growth figures, the country has high levels of social inequality.
Economic troubles have led to fuel shortages in some parts of the country and stalls at food markets in the capital have run out of produce.
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