Sources: Panamá América, La Estrella and Panama public holidays. The lobbying effort to restore the practice, followed from 1996-2000, of moving Panama's fixed-date public holidays to the nearest Monday or Friday, is gaining momentum. When we first reported on the move, in our post of August 8, the principal force behind the proposal was the APATEL (Asociación Panameña de Hoteles). But since then, the APATEL has been joined in its efforts by the FEDECÁMARAS (Federación Nacional de Cámaras de Comercio, Industrias y Agricultura de Panamá) and it looks likely that legislature to that effect will be introduced in the Legislative Assembly before the end of the year.However, whether the law is passed is another matter, since, as we mentioned in our earlier post, in Latin America, there is a strong current resisting the moving of fixed dates public holidays to adjoin weekends. This very influential segment of the population, which already had many such holidays laws partially repealed throughout Latin America, considers the moving of fixed date religious public holidays as sacrilegious, and similarly considers the moving of fixed dates historical public holidays as un-patriotic.
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