Solidarity with the Panamanian People

Statement from the CLACSO Steering Committee

Panama has a long history of defending its sovereignty. Social movements fought against the colonial enclave, achieving the withdrawal of US troops with the Torrijos-Carter Treaties in 1977. This history is key to understanding the current social unrest. The people are once again defending their territory. Law 406, recently approved by the National Assembly and ratified by the Executive Branch, creates a new enclave controlled by a transnational corporation. First Quantum Minerals, Ltd. The regulations grant a concession of 15 hectares of tropical forest for 40 years for the extraction of copper and gold, allowing the expropriation of land within and outside the concession area, appropriation of airspace and use of water sources outside the established areas, if the company so requires.

During the parliamentary sessions in the National Assembly in September, popular organizations, academic sectors, and professionals argued against the approval of the draft contract-law submitted by the Executive branch. However, the public's rejection of the proposed law and the harm it would cause were ignored, as were the demands to enforce the Supreme Court's ruling, which had already declared the previous 1997 contract-law unconstitutional.

Since its enactment, the Panamanian people have been engaged in continuous nationwide mobilizations, demanding its rejection and declaration of unconstitutionality. Street protests in the outskirts and urban centers continue late into the night. Professional associations have called for an indefinite strike, while the indigenous movement has blocked the Inter-American Highway in the western part of the country, paralyzing communications between the capital and the provinces. Amid this social mobilization, there have been instances of repression, arrests, and the use of force by police forces, without diminishing the citizens' right to protest. Classes in public secondary and university education have also been suspended.

CLACSO calls on Panamanian authorities to comply with the Constitution and the laws that guarantee the democratic right to protest, without repression or arrests, and to listen to the popular outcry against a contract that violates the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda by allowing the indiscriminate plundering of natural resources.

We stand in solidarity with the outcry of a people who are in the streets today and seek to protect their sovereign right to live in a territory free of pollution and the preservation of their natural resources.

CLACSO Steering Committee
Panama, October 27, 2023