Statement of Solidarity to the Panamanian People

The Panamanian government initiated a plan to consolidate policies of dispossession and impoverishment of the population, following the recommendations of international organizations. Subsidies protecting vulnerable populations were eliminated, contact was established with the Minera Panamá company for the reopening of a mine (under a concession agreement declared unconstitutional in 2023, the result of widespread popular mobilization that became the most significant environmental victory in Latin America this century), Law 462 was passed privatizing social security and raising the retirement age, and a tax reform was threatened that would extend the ITBM (Tax on the Transfer of Goods and Services) to medicines and food.

In parallel with the above, the government acquired sophisticated crowd control equipment to be used against the frequent demonstrations by unions and organizations protesting its unpopular policies. It launched a smear campaign against movement leaders, labeling them terrorists and threatening to prosecute their protests. Faced with the government's inability to engage in dialogue, the social movement called for an indefinite general strike beginning April 23.

While displaying his authoritarian side to those who resist these policies, he appears cooperative and subservient to the imperialist aggressions of Donald Trump. The recent signing of the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Panama is not only unconstitutional and violates the Canal Neutrality Treaty, but it also allows for the return of military bases and represents a setback in the Panamanian people's struggle for sovereignty.

The Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) views with concern the growing confrontation within Panamanian society and calls on the authorities to rectify their actions in accordance with the constitution and international treaties. It also expresses its solidarity with the unions, teachers' associations, student groups, and civil society organizations in their struggles against the consolidation of neoliberal policies and imperialist threats to Panamanian sovereignty.

We hope that dialogue and peace with social justice will prevail.

CLACSO Steering Committee

14 2025 of April