Two protestors were killed and reportedly over 40 people injured when police dispersed a protest by Indigenous Peoples in Panama on 5 February. Protests are likely to continue across the country and there are fears that excessive force may be used by State security forces.

Amnesty International has just received reports that Colombian refugees Juan Berrío and Enrique Medrano have been located in Panamá and are reportedly in good health. The Panamanian Human Rights Ombudsman has called on the Panamanian government not to repatriate the two refugees.

Enrique Medrano and Juan Berrío, Colombian refugees in Panamá, have not been seen since 21 April. They were reportedly abducted while over 100 other refugees were being forcibly returned to Colombia. Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of the two men, and that of the repatriated...

Jose Ignacio Acevedo, Marcos Torres, Roman Antonio Zapata, Cipriano Garcia and members of the Regional Association for forced migrations (ARMIF) and the Alternative Legal Office of Panama. AI is seriously concerned at the failure of the Panamanian Government to guarantee the safety of Colombian...

Rosaira Velez Domico (f), Amalia Borgas Velez (f), Maria Dellanira Borgas Velez (f), Maria Margarita Borgas Velez (f), Maria Cladibel Guizao (child), Hildardo Antonio Guizao (child), Deisy Luz Guizao (child), Davinson Jose Muentes Vargas (child), Jose Muentes Fuentes, Euclides Osorio Fuentes, Luis...

Amnesty International has condemned the Panamanian authorities’ decision to forcibly return between 18 and 20 April more than 300 Colombian refugees, mainly women and some 177 children, after they had fled to Panama to escape the violence in their home region. Representatives of neither the UNHCR...

Over 200 Colombian refugees who in recent days have fled an upsurge in violence in the Colombian border province of Choco, are at risk of forcible return by the Panamanian authorities to Colombia, where they would be at serious risk. The refugees are living in temporary camps near the village of...

Refugee peasant farmers of the Uraba region, deported or facing deportation from Panama, internally displaced peasant farmers fleeing from Uraba: According to reports, some 400 peasant farmers and their families fled to Panama after violence broke out between leftist guerrillas and right wing...

The third and crucial plenary session of the Panamanian Legislative Assembly to debate the draft Amnesty Law has been postponed to April 1996.

In March 1996 the Panamanian Legislative Assembly will debate the draft of an Amnesty Law which, if passed, could lead to complete impunity for perpetrators of past human rights violations.

All of the detainees were released on 18 April 1995, except for 12-year-old Anselmo Acosta, who was released into the custody of a local indigenous landowner. He was returned to his family on 27 April. Proceedings in connection with the case continue in the Attorney General’s office in Veraguas...

On 11 April 1995 members of the Ngobe-Bugles indigenous group were reportedly arrested without warrants following a confrontation with a special anti-riot squad of the national police. They had been demonstrating about the activities of a mining company on land which, they claim, are historically...