Panama, Protests and Politics

On August 2 Bob and I participated in a demonstration at the dump, which is located on the road to Playa Blanca. Since March,2009 residents of Playa Blanca and surrounding areas have been trying to effect the closing of this dangerous dump. The trash, being brought here, is not being buried but piled high and then burned, plastics, chemicals and all. The toxic smoke has been blowing over the resort areas and also the town of Rio Hato for years. There are actually people who live at the dump and eke out a tiny subsistence from what they find in the trash. The vultures and feral dogs do too. There hasn't been any burning but there is no guarantee that this is a lasting change.
There have been several protests and meetings with officials, who make promises but don't follow through. On several occasions, out and out lies were told about the status of the planned sanitary landfill, which is supposed to replace the current dump. The local resorts have even donated a reported $50,000 to get the job done!

Bob at centre holding a sign

One of the people, who has been involved from the beginning, Mitchell Kenoian, summed up yesterdays efforts in an email he wrote:

On Tuesday 8 AM a group of residents, about 20, demonstrated with signs at the dump and Channel 2 was there to cover the event. After the TV crew and some folks went into the dump to document the amount of trash there, we went to Anton where there was a town council meeting scheduled at 10AM. We had heard that the Governor of Cocle Province was going to be there to address the dump issue. We were fortunate before the meeting we met and were able to speak to the Governor and told him what our history with the mayor and the government was. His English is perfect. He agreed that the situation was not handled well by the local authorities and he would take care of it. We all went up to the council meeting and the man kept his word. After hearing a number of council people speak and defend their actions the Governor and his advisor on the issue, Enrique Ho, spoke. Again, after a lot of conversation and posturing by politicians, he closed the meeting by making the announcement that the council had the next 2 weeks to get the Rio Hato dump cleaned up and to simultaneously work on opening the new landfill in Anton. From what I heard it may take a couple of months but the new landfill will be open and there will be no more dumping in Rio Hato. He charged that if the local government did not do this he would send in his equipment to get the job done. The Governor said they should bury all trash until the dump was permanently closed.
Also, the councilman from Farallon spoke at great length and passion and said they should all be embarrassed that it took foreigners to get this problem brought to their attention.
All in all I think we have found an ally to force the mayor to act. I might add, that at the council meeting, the mayor was visibly angry and did not say one word.
Mitchell Kenoian

Mayor at left with Enrique Ho and the governor of Cocle province.

I think Mitchell summed it up very well. We'll see what happens next . One of the other members of the group, Alcides,made the contacts to get the media involved (two tv stations and both Panama daily newspapers) and now has made contact with a woman who has a show on environmental issues. She is very willing to help the cause too. We seem to be making progress so we'll keep up the pressure. The health of all the local residents is at stake and this is a cause with significant consequences. Both Bob and I are seen in the pictures taken yesterday.

Lyn Melso and I in Front of the Dump

Dogs and Vultures at the Dump