Mining Protests - Part 1: what’s happening

One of the largest copper mines in the world happens to be in a very remote area off the caribbean coast of Panama. In1996 a panamanian company got the license to create this mine. Mining is an industry where scale matters very much. So, in 2013, they merged with (resolved into, were taken over by) a canadian mining company. The original contract granted Panama 35 million $ in royalty per year. In 2009, lawsuits were filed against this contract, saying it was unconstitutional as it does not benefit Panama enough. By 2018 the supreme court ruled the law on which the contract is based is unconstitutional. Such rulings are usually not retroactive but only going forward…

In March 2023 the government and the mining company agreed on a new contract, giving Panama more than 10 times the money, and more concessions for Panama. The government voted positively on the law, and the president signed it into law shortly thereafter. 

To find more details on this background, check out Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobre_mine,_Panama?wprov=sfti1#

Some people didn’t like this, however. Some NGOs don’t like mines, period. Some of the opposition think it’s still not enough for Panama. The powerful construction workers’ union SUNTRACS, for reasons i am not sure of, opposes it, too, and called upon its members to block the ports and airports until this law is annulled. They started the slogan “Panama is not for sale!”. And they asked everybody else to join in the fight.

On 22nd or 23rd of October SUNTRACS started blockades. Within a few days, the slogan resonated with large portions of the population, and everybody joined the blockades. Families with children showed up, people brought firewood and large cauldrons to cook food. Signs read: “For panama! For our future!”

Different to typical democratic protests, people didn’t just block part of the roads, but all lanes. neither did they block just for stretches of time, and then letting traffic through for a while, and blocking again. Instead, they kept the blockages all day until late into the night; some even day and night!

blockages between Chiriquí and Veraguas

For most of the length of Panama there’s only one single road - the interamerican highway. From it, roads lead up into the mountains, or down to the coast. But, most of them basically dead ends. So, for much of the whole length of the country, there’s  no alternative route possible. Consequently, when that single highway is blocked, there’s no east-west traffic whatsoever! 

Most of the fresh food is grown in the western province of Chiriquí. Virtually all the gas enters the country through Colón - a port city on the caribbean coast, an hour’s drive north of Panama City, at about the center of Panama. When the interamerican highway is blocked for any reason anywhere along the way, Chiriquí gets no more gasoline, diesel, and gas. And the rest of the country plus Panama City get no fresh vegetables and fruits.

And this is what’s happening now. The produce is overripening on the fields, all the roads are empty in Chiriquí as there’s no gasoline to fuel agricultural equipment, nor cars, nor buses. In the rest of the country, the vegetable and fruit stands on the side of the roads are closed, and the fresh produce isles in the grocery stores are empty - totally empty! Such a weird view! Quite scary, to be honest…

As of today, 2nd of November 2023, there’s no saying how long this will continue, and where it all will lead…