travel

Also in this section:
The Azuero Peninsula
Bus confrontation looming
Sunset at low tide

Photo by Eric Jackson

The buses are running now...

However, the Torrijos administration is still adamant about putting the owner-operated diablo rojo buses out of business and giving some large corporation a contract to take over the metro area bus routes --- so long as they use the "articulated" buses made by a specific Latin American manufacturer. The big confrontation was supposed to happen in December, but it turned out that the government didn't have its political ducks in a row and furthermore hadn't widened the streets that needed to be expanded to fit the new buses, so Torrijos punted and the new bus regime was put off until the next regular legislative session, which begins in March.

The propaganda campaign in the PRD-aligned media, however, has been relentless and the ruling party's most strident critic, the labor/left FRENADESO alliance, is agreeing with the government to the extent that it is also calling the leaders of the bus syndicates mafiosi and refusing to back the bus drivers if they take action against the plan to replace them.

But the drivers vow to go on strike and block traffic in and around the capital if the government continues with its plan, and at least temporarily it would paralyze the national economy because a large part of the Panamanian work force depends on the diablo rojo buses to get to and from work.