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Everything was recorded. On Thursday, October 19, around 6:30 in the afternoon, and when the protests in Panama against the signing of a legal contract for a mining project were just beginning, photographer Aubrey Baxter (Panama City, 40 years old) was hit in the eye. At first you can only see the lines of police officers from the Crowd Control Unit (UCM) walking. Then, a series of shots fall towards him. Finally, the video shows the street sidewalk and his accurate shouts: “I lost my eye, I lost my eye!” Baxter, who is part of the collective It’s already Panamaan environmental organization that seeks to mobilize and educate about the climate crisis, was simply documenting what was happening at the protest with its camera, but the repression it received from the Police ended in the complete loss of vision in one of its eyes. .
“I had been walking with the people for about three hours and I was portraying how the protest was ending,” he recalls now through a video call. But the march, which had been peaceful, became tense when police fired tear gas. “In fact, we came with many children and, even, minutes before, I was with the daughter of a colleague, less than 10 years old, who could no longer breathe, she was in a state of shock”, he says in an interview with América Futura.
Panama has already completed four weeks of mobilizations triggered because the Government of Laurentino Cortizo approved that the company Minera Panamá – a subsidiary of the Canadian Firts Quantum Minerals – continue exploiting copper in the largest open pit mine in Central America. Although it is a project that began operating in 1997, the mining company’s contract was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice in 2017. With the signing of the new law contract, then, the Government would be allowing it to continue exploiting the mine. for up to 40 more years, arousing the annoyance of some Panamanians not only because of the environmental impact, but also because of the speed with which the law was approved: only three days.
The repression of protests has not only left people injured, as is the case of Baxter. On Tuesday, November 7, in the Chame sector, an armed man killed two protesters who had blocked a road. Their deaths are added to that of two other people run over in blockades in previous days. After the massive mobilizations unleashed in rejection of the mining concession, the Government and Parliament of Panama have said that they will wait for what the Supreme Court of Justice decides on the contract.
Ask. Do you remember what was happening when you were shot?
Answer. It was close to the Assembly, which is the place where the different protest marches come together, but also where the most repression usually occurs. There are even some barriers. There was a UCM agent [Unidad de Control de Multitudes] higher up, with a tear gas weapon. But closer to me, others who had rubber or steel weapons pepper [gas pimienta]. I never knew what they were because since it didn’t enter the eye, it couldn’t be studied. But what is known is that it was something round, due to the diameter of the wound, my eye was left black. Since I was recording, and that is a coincidence because I never record, I think the agent who was upstairs gave the order to take me out of there. When I felt they were shooting, I tried to get behind some posts, but that was a burst. One hit me in the eye, but I wasn’t aware of what was happening. A colleague tried to call an ambulance, but it wasn’t easy. It was some time after continuing walking that they were able to take me to the hospital.
Q. Which is the diagnosis?
R. It was an orbital fracture, with loss of the eye. I don’t see anything through that eye.
Q. How does losing your sight impact you as a photographer?
R. I feel that I had great support from the person who performed the surgery on me, because it gave me perspective. Before entering, I was very optimistic that they would be able to rescue my vision, because they were doing tests and I felt like I was seeing shadows. But the doctor, the night before going into surgery, did tell me that there was no way to save the balloon. And it was strong. I felt a cold tear come out of my other eye, but it helped me know what was coming.
About my profession, well, what I have to do is adapt, train the other eye. Of course, it changes, because things are seen differently. Life gives you two focuses and now I don’t have them. The camera is there. I haven’t cleaned it, although I did take the last photos, which were of my partner’s daughter crying. But I haven’t cleaned it. It has a lot of blood, it’s as if somehow you don’t want to get close to that element. But yes, I have to get it back.
Q. What has the Police or the Government said about what happened?
R. They got away from the blame. In a statement from the National Police, they said that they had not participated, that this had been the impact of some Protestant. But I was recording and you can see what happens, fortunately, because I never record. We used that video to file the criminal complaint.
Q. What other measures have they taken to investigate the process?
R. There is the criminal complaint that we filed with the Attorney General’s Office, annexing an investigation that is ongoing by the Public Ministry. On Thursday, November 9, we also filed a criminal complaint.
Q. What do you think will happen with the decision regarding the mine?
R. Well, there are two demands or two different paths of what can happen, which, in fact, have also generated a lot of ego, a lot of division, when what we have to do is be united. One is that the law contract is declared unconstitutional, which must be decided by the Court. And the other is that the law be repealed, which must be done by the legislative branch. But those decisions, and it is part of what is happening today, are taking the powers and Panama to the extreme. What I think should happen is that it goes to international arbitration, because that contract was unconstitutional since 2017, and the mine continued in operation. I think what we need is to sit down and see what the best way is, I feel that I am left with that responsibility, to seek union.
Q. And what do you think will happen with the protests?
R. In the protest there has been a lot of distortion with very specific words such as anarchism or vandalism, and this is how the protest is judged a lot. There has been a lot of violence against protesters, against those who are documenting it. And it’s sad because I’m not the only person who has lost their eye, there are several cases already. I know of four more. This week two people also lost their lives. So there is a pattern and that is that, when we demand justice for the repression that is taking place, what the Government does is let a narrative grow that they are against each other. They use strategies to divide, like there is a shortage of products, but that is for products of privilege. If you need grains, there are grains throughout Panama. Hate speech against groups that are supporting the causes, such as indigenous peoples, is also growing. There is no degree of real solidarity.
Q. Have you experienced such massive – and repressive – protests before in Panama?
R. What is happening now is very comparable to the dictatorship, although the level of repression has been common to several governments. Last year, for example, it was against the indigenous groups, who are always resisting when there is devastation of nature.
R. Do you feel there will be some consequences?
Q. I’m more inclined to say that what I’ve seen is a lot of solidarity. Likewise, seeing that mass mobilization is something that fills my heart as a Panamanian. Feeling that Panama is united in great things and feeling that it was asleep for a long time, believing that things cannot be changed. It motivates me to see that Panama does want changes. Let there be a sample of reality of what the struggles are and for whom the struggles are.
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