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Caribbean & Central America - March 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)
PANAMA: Martinelli re-opens can of worms
First mining, now hydroelectric projects? Less than a year since indigenous-led popular pressure forced President Ricardo Martinelli to repeal a reform to the 1963 mining law, which would have opened the sector up to foreign government investment [RC-11-03], his decision to revisit the issue is threatening a new political defeat for his pro-business government. The submission of a Martinelli-backed bill to congress, which apparently ignored the reversal, once again brought indigenous groups (whose territory contains valuable natural resources) back onto the streets. It not only forced fresh reassurances from Martinelli regarding mining but, with his popularity again in free-fall, yielded new government concessions vis-à-vis another key indigenous demand, the suspension of hydroelectric projects.
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