Among the measures, it is proposed to reduce the price of medicines and allocate 6% of the Gross Domestic Product to the education system. | Photo: Prensa Latina

Panama City, July 13 (RHC)-- Panamanian unions are demanding answers of the president to 32 demands presented to the administration and the establishment of dialogue tables with representatives of the main sectors of the country.

Several Panamanian unions and guilds grouped in the Pueblo Unido por la Vida alliance extended their day of protests on Tuesday, demanding concrete answers to the tense social situation and inflation in the country.

The strike, which covers several provinces of the Central American nation such as Panama City, Santiago de Veraguas, Chiriqui and Colon, among others, is against the high prices of fuel and the basic family basket, as well as the poor management of the cabinet headed by President Laurentino Cortizo.

They demand that he respond to 32 demands presented and not limit himself to the recently applied freeze on fuel prices and the announcement of a similar measure to a dozen products of the basic food basket.

In this sense, the general secretary of the Sindicato Único Nacional de los Trabajadores de la Industria de la Construcción y Similares (Suntracs), Saúl Méndez, emphasized that "the accumulated problems are the result of a neoliberal model imposed by the economic elites and seven successive governments of traditional parties that profit from the needs of the people"; and called to remain united, disciplined and firm in the demand for a dignified life for all.

Gathered in the vicinity of the National Assembly, they also demanded improvements in salaries and working conditions in the education and health sectors; sectors which found support in their call to extend the strike for 48 hours beginning on Wednesday in the Council of Transportation of the Interior (Contradin), of Chiriqui and other union organizations.