The Congress of Panama approved this Friday an indefinite moratorium on metal mining, demanded in the streets for two weeks by tens of thousands of Panamanians who reject the operation of the largest open pit copper mine in Central America.
(Also read: Thousands of migrants on their way to the United States were stranded due to protests in Panama).
Pressured by the largest protests since the 1980s against dictator Manuel Noriega, The National Assembly – unicameral legislative – approved by 59 votes in favor and two abstentions, the moratorium on concessions for the exploration and extraction of metal mining throughout Panamanian territory.
The demonstrations also achieved on Thursday that Congress left the decision on the controversial contract signed between the government and the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals in the hands of justice (FQM), which allows the operation of a copper mine in the Panamanian Caribbean for 40 years.
The leaders of the protests want the Supreme Court of Justice to declare the contract unconstitutional to give the country defense arguments against a future multimillion-dollar lawsuit from the company.
“It is a great achievement for a country that was dedicated to mining. We are left with the big elephant (FQM) and we are going to fight that until the end through constitutional means and before the international arbitrations that arise,” the environmentalist Raisa Banfield.
Panama joins, in Central America, Costa Rica and El Salvador in this policy. The moratorium will allow it to stop the processing of 103 mining concessions and reject the extensions of 15 in forceaccording to the NGO Environmental Advocacy Center (CIAM).
Economic impact
Social unrest broke out on October 20 when Congress approved the contract law signed in August by the government of Laurentino Cortizo. and FQM to replace the 1997 one that the Court declared unconstitutional because the concession was given without bidding and under highly unfavorable conditions for the Panamanian State.
That same day, roadblocks and protests began and progressively increased. and they have semi-paralyzed the country, generating million-dollar losses in tourism, commerce and, above all, in agriculture and livestock.
Seeking to appease the unrest, Cortizo and Parliament tried to back down, but their erratic decisions, which included a proposed referendum, only deepened the crisis.
(Keep reading: Panama Canal will reduce ship crossings from Friday due to the drought)
The government has defended the contract, arguing that it will involve minimum annual contributions from the mining company to the State of 375 million dollars.ten times more than the initial agreement amount.
The authorities warn that the closure of the mine will cause the loss of 8,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs, and will deal a severe blow to the economy, at a time when the Panama Canal had to reduce ship transit due to the drought.
Total anarchy… There is little time left for the Cuban revolution to triumph in Panama. Let’s continue believing that the left cares about the Mina. They want to create chaos and destabilize the country and there they achieve victory. pic.twitter.com/hQl3TW6AZT
— Alvaro Alvarado – Sin Rodeos (@AlvaroAlvaradoC) November 3, 2023
“If we close the mine, go to arbitration and lose it (…), this will be more public debt,” warned Fernando Aramburú, former Minister of Economy.
The global financial services firm JP Morgan assured that a termination of the contract with FQM will mean a climate of lower investment confidence in the country.
The mining company, which has invested more than 10 billion dollars in Panama, assures that it contributes 5% of GDP to the country’s economy. As of February 2019, it produces about 300,000 tons of copper concentrate per year, representing 75% of exports.
‘Unsustainable’ development
According to a study by the National Competitiveness Center, by 2024 mining activity in Panama could be representing 8.3% of the country’s economy.
Today SUNTRACS received the financial support that the State gives to the unions and guilds of Panama, which comes from the educational tax.
Someone tell Saúl Méndez that he is part of the problem, and that now he is complaining but in 2018 his combo was in the mine too. pic.twitter.com/rZVNn70Kda— Elías González 🇵🇦 (@eliasdgonzalezm) October 26, 2023
“The country is saying ‘no’ not only to the contract, but to this harmful form of unsustainable economic development,” CIAM director Lilian Guevara told AFP.
The protesters went from just asking for the cancellation of the copper mine contract, which operates in some 13,000 hectares of a jungle area, to demand a mining moratorium.
(We recommend: Panama’s Electoral Tribunal refuses to organize a popular consultation on the mine).
“Mining activity, and that project in particular, is totally disproportionate in a small country (74,000 km2), tropical, with very high biodiversity and dependence on ecosystems, vulnerable to climate change and with 52 hydrographic basins,” said Guevara.
Environmentalists warn of deforestation of the copper mine in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridorwhich connects the seven countries of Central America and southern Mexico.
The moratorium was declared this Friday when the separation of Panama from Colombia was celebrated in 1903. Cortizo presided over a closed-door ceremony, given the climate of upheaval in the country.
AFP
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