Panama, a country in limbo

After 15 days of protests against the rising cost of living, the Panamian government and leaders agreed to lower the price of fuel in exchange for lifting the roadblocks. The mobilized organizations do not recognize the agreement.

Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo is first and foremost a cattle rancher who entered politics, first as a deputy, then as President of the National Assembly, and finally as Minister of Agricultural Development during the previous government of Martín Torrijos.

The marquee ruling party is the very traditional Partido Revolucionario Democrático, which, like all other major parties in Panama, is strictly center-right. This symbiosis makes it easy to understand why the government is not used to negotiating with the most critical sectors.

For this reason, violent protests continued after the base of social groups decided on Monday to disregard the agreement reached on Sunday between the government and a group of leaders of the ruling party.