International agreements twisted

PANAMA. “We respect the rights of the indigenous people and we are not going to let them be violated. ”

This was the statement from the Ministry of Government and Justice which said that the land dispute between several indigenousNaso families and the Ganaderia Bocas had been ongoing since 2003 and “could not therefore be resolved in just a month.”

They said that the spirit of international conventions on human rights had been twisted to support the Naso case and that there has been no violation of rights because the government had opened a dialogue between the two factions.

The Ministry said that Ganaderia Bocas bought the land in 1973 from a Bocas banana company and that the Naso were the people who invaded the land in 2003.

The Naso were invited to discuss the situation but had chosen not to collaborate, the Ministry of Government and Justice said.