Anti-mining protests leave Panama’s capital almost deserted

Few cars and pedestrians were seen this morning on the City of Panama after the anti-mining protests that intensified last night and are expected to continue this Wednesday for the third consecutive day, despite the call for calm and dialogue from the Government and employers.

The blockades on the Pan-American highway, which crosses the country and connects it with Central America, as well as avenues in the capital, were repeated early Wednesday in some points.

These began last Monday with force after the approval on October 20 of the contract law that renews for 20 extendable years the concession to the company Minera Panamá, a subsidiary of the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals, which since 2019 has been exporting copper from the Cobre Panamá mine. , the largest open pit in Central America.

The Executive defends that the new contract multiplies the profits for the State by 10 and guarantees environmental surveillance, while activists and jurists point out that it maintains the vices that led to the previous one being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2017, 8 years after filing a legal action in that regard.

Mass demonstrations like those last night, which covered at least two central avenues in the capital, have been marred by acts of vandalism that have left public property affected, such as the breaking of the façade of one of the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. , or painted on the walls of the Cciap employers’ association building.

There have been reports of protesters and agents injured in these protests, which began months ago although with much less intensity, after the Government and Minera Panamá agreed to the new contract after more than a year of negotiations, including threats of closure of the mine by from the authorities and international lawsuits by the company.

The Panamanian president, Laurentino Cortizo, addressed the nation at noon on Tuesday to ask for calm, reiterate that the concession is in force and is beneficial for the country, and assure that his Administration will not allow vandalism.

The president’s words were refuted by detractors of the mining contract, who insist that it be repealed because the monetary profits it establishes do not compensate for the damage to the environment from open pit mining.