PANAMA CITY, July 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A top union leader in Panama involved in protests against President Jose Raul Mulino fled the country Saturday for asylum in Bolivia, according to the union.

Saul Mendez, the secretary general of the Suntracs construction union -- one of the largest labor unions in Panama -- left the country two days after the Panamanian government filed a lawsuit to dissolve it.

The union is fighting the Panamanian government on several fronts, including pension reform.

"Long live the Panamanian people," Mendez shouted to supporters as he left Panama City escorted by police after the government granted him safe passage to leave the Central American nation.

Suntracs said in a statement on X that Mendez "is going into exile" but clarified "they did not silence him" nor "bend him."

The union leader had in May scaled the fence of the Bolivian embassy to seek asylum after his colleague was detained.

Erasmo Cerrud, another member of Suntracs leadership, is currently seeking refuge in the country's Nicaraguan embassy while waiting to be granted safe passage. Two union leaders are in detention.

Prosecutors accuse the union leaders of money laundering, with president Mulino calling Suntracs a "mafia," a charge which the unionists deny and say is cover for persecution by the government.

Panamanian Minister of Labor Jackeline Munoz said Thursday that "Suntracs has links with money laundering activities" that its leadership managed "for their own benefit" without "real protection for its workers."

Suntracs, one of the organizers of a strike by construction workers earlier this year, often stages protests against Mulino's right-wing government.

The demonstrations have touched on issues ranging from social security reforms, an agreement allowing US troops to deploy to bases along the Panama Canal, and moves to reopen a contested copper mine.