Considering that President Laurentino Cortizo did not meet the expectations of the Colón Unity Coalition (CUCO), the group determined that the strike be declared indefinitely in the province, as was formally announced by Edgardo Voitier, leader of this organization.
The meeting led by Cortizo on Thursday was held at the Abel Bravo school and began after 4:00 in the afternoon and lasted until late at night.
The president, along with several members of his government team, explained to the participants of this meeting the progress and phases in which various infrastructure projects are underway and are about to be developed in the province.
According to Voitier, the list of demands presented to the president has three fundamental issues, to which President Cortizo did not give concrete answers.
“On the issue of the high cost of living, he did not make a decision to curb this reality, on the increase in fuel prices, which has affected the entire population, he did not give an answer, on the bus terminal there is no transparency in that topic,” he said.
The president promised the leaders of the Coalition that he will attend to the requests made during the four days of strike in the province. On several occasions, the president assured: “there is money for the Colón projects.”
Cortizo mentioned that in the next 15 days the order to proceed will be given to restart the construction of the new Manuel Amador Guerrero hospital, the program of 1,700 jobs will be extended through the Social Assistance Directorate (DAS) and the will implement the Learning by Doing employment program, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Users of the Colon Free Zone and the container ports. He explained that for this program the government will provide 50% of the funds.
He reported on the progress of some projects such as Recovering my Neighborhood, the construction and improvements to sports arenas. On this last point, the director of Pandeportes, Héctor Brands, announced that 56 million dollars are being invested in the Mariano Bula stadium, whose work should be completed by the end of 2023.
It should be noted that in this first meeting, President Cortizo promised to meet again with the Colon leaders, next Tuesday. The time of that second meeting is unknown and whether it will be in Panama City or in Colón.
It is planned that starting at 6:00 am this Friday, a concentration will be held in the Cuatro Altos sector to continue the fight in the streets. In addition, the transportation service will not be provided in Colón.
