Report from Parque Legislativo



**All of the statistics and statements written below were recounted to us via translation from the interviewees to whom we spoke. Errors in the translation and our understanding are possible, and we apologize in advance as such.**

Sunday we visited the some of the Ngobe protesters in Parque Legislativo in front of the Asamblea Nacional. The park is raised above the two busy streets bordered by the Pan-American Highway on one side, and in back by a wrought iron fence enclosing the Assembly complex (a several story office building, parking lot, and an under construction parking garage.)

Protesters have been occupying the park for nearly a month, since the latest discussions of developing hydroelectric and mining resources on the comarca have begun. The Ngobe representatives we spoke with there were very clear in their articulation of their struggle as one with national and international consequences.

“The comarca is the land of the country, “ said one man we spoke with. “The environment is calling us to protect it.” At Barro Blanco, one of the more contentious projects under discussion, the water collected in one day at the proposed hydroelectric plant is more than the Ngobe people would use in 10 years at their current level of activity (see here for more information on the temporary suspension of the project until further environmental review).  Protesters cited the statistic that 30% of national water supply is located within the bounds of the comarca - here the water is clean and healthy, they explained. Out of all the water in Panama, 60% is polluted, making a swift resolution to the hydroelectric negotiation between the federal government and the Ngobe leadership a matter of national significance.

On an international scale, Bernardo Bejardo enumerated for us the consequences of development on the comarca. Leveling the forest to make way for the construction of development projects will deplete all of the natural resources used by pharmacists to create medicines the world over. The prevalence of skin cancers will increase with less forest coverage to protect people from exposure to the sun´s UV rays. And with fewer trees to process the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by natural and man-made means, the deforestation needed to complete these development projects will contribute to global warming.

Beyond the harm to the environment and the Ngobe way of life that these development projects would cause, the Ngobe explained their protest as one of human rights. The Ngobe leadership undertakes a careful consultation process when handing down decisions, the protesters explained, filtering decisions through the Cassique and Congresa before coming to the national Panamanian goverment with their demands. Protesters claim that the government has no respect for this process, preferring to draw up international private contracts with corporations rather than consulting their constituents. “The Panamanian people do not support construction,” the protesters claimed. “Clear information never comes to the people.”

As for abuses immediately within their community, protesters cited several cases of violence under a government trying to repress their pleas for observation of Panamanian law and the Ngobe´s human rights. Showing us a dozen pellets that were fired on their encampment in the park, protesters told story after story of brutal injuries inflicted upon them. Two parents spoke with us about their 17-year-old son who had been hospitalized due to buckshot wounds in his leg that had to be operated on. “The government used firearms against the protesters and they deny it,” the protesters told us.

Bernardo concluded out time together telling us “I am not sad I was arrested [during my time protesting], I am happy because I am fighting for our rights. Despite my arrest, I feel that I am doing the right thing”

Read here for more local news from the park in Spanish.