Protesters and police clash in eastern Panama

ARIMAE, Panama (AP) — Authorities and protesters were injured Thursday in eastern Panama when border police tried to open a highway blocked in an Indigenous community as part of monthlong demonstrations against changes to the country’s social security system.

Border police in riot gear launched tear gas and fired rubber-coated metal balls to disperse balaclava-wearing protesters firing rocks from slingshots and throwing Molotov cocktails.

The National Border Service said in a statement that three of its members were taken for medical treatment. Among the protesters, at least one man’s back and arm were studded with a constellation of wounds from pellets fired by police and another appeared to suffer a serious injury to one eye.

An Associated Press journalist saw at least one home burned when police fired a tear gas canister onto its thatch roof.

The roadway was covered in felled trees.

A resident who requested anonymity because they feared retaliation, said they feared one protester was going to lose his eye after being struck in the melee.

The small community is in the Darien, the remote province that borders Colombia and that has seen hundreds of thousands of migrants pass through until the flow effectively stopped earlier this year.

Protests have persisted in parts of Panama for a month and a half. They’ve covered a range of issues including the changes to social security and opposition to a security agreement giving U.S. soldiers and contractors access to some facilities in Panama.

President José Raúl Mulino has said he will not reverse the social security changes, nor will he allow protesters to obstruct roads.

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AP journalist Alma Solís in Panama City contributed to this report.

Anti-government protesters block a highway in the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Anti-government protesters clash with police at the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

An anti-government protester hurls back a tear gas canister during clashes with police at the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Residents try to extinguish a burning hut during clashes between anti-government protesters and police in the Indigenous Embera community of Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Men carry a fellow demonstrator injured during clashes with police at a protest against recent actions by President Jose Raul Mulino, including a pension reform law and a security agreement with the United States involving the Panama Canal, in Arimae, Panama, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)