Panama: Martinelli Backs Down on Open-Pit Mining  http://www.adital.com.br/site/noticia.asp?boletim=1&lang=ES&cod=54428

http://weeklynewsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/02/wnu-1068-indigenous-panamanians-protest.html

Rightwing Panamanian president Ricardo Martinelli announced in San Félix, Chiriquí, on Mar. 3 that he would ask the National Assembly to rescind a mining law that opponents said would encourage open-pit mining for metals by foreign companies and endanger the environment. “A president like me will always listen to his people,” Martinelli wrote in his Twitter account, following nearly a month of demonstrations led by the Ngöbe-Buglé indigenous group [see Update #1068]. Polls reportedly showed 75% of Panamanians opposing the mining industry