Chapter 5 of TVOD website carries numerous articles about the Petaquilla mine in Panama, including news of the Supreme Court’s declaration of the mining contract as illegal. This declaration brought to an end the demonstrations and road blockages called to protest the renewal of the contract that allowed a Canadian mining company (First Quantum Minerals) to continue operating a large open pit copper mine. Pablo Meriguet’s article below covers one aspect of the aftermath of the protests and mining cessation. We are very grateful to Pablo and to People’s Dispatch for their permission to reproduce the article here.
People’s Dispatch website: https://peoplesdispatch.org/
By Pablo Meriguet, People’s Dispatch
June 23, 2024
Key words: Mining; National Union Of Workers Of Construction And Similar Industries (SUNTRACS); Panama; Retaliation; Saúl Mendez; Unions; Worker Rights And Jobs.
Panama’s Largest Union, SUNTRACS, Has Denounced That Several Of Their Bank Accounts Were Frozen As A Retaliatory Measure For Opposing A Mining Concession.
Panamanian business groups and large transnational capital are trying to take revenge on the National Union of Workers of Construction and Similar Industries (SUNTRACS), says Saúl Méndez, general secretary of the union. For several months, the state-owned company Caja de Ahorros has frozen 18 bank accounts of the union, one of the largest in the country, which represents more than 25,000 people. According to government sources, the closure of the bank accounts is due to alleged links of SUNTRACS with terrorist activities.
However, according to Méndez, the freezing of their accounts is an act of retaliation by national and international economic groups that have economic interests in Panama, for being the political group that led the protests against open-pit metal mining during October and November of last year.
Last year, SUNTRACS led dozens of popular organisations that sought, through massive street protests, to defend the country’s sovereignty and environmental well-being by opposing Law 406. The law promised privileges for more than 20 years to First Quantum Minerals (FMQ), with the possibility of extending those privileges for an additional 20 years. The demonstrations resulted in the Supreme Court of Justice declaring Law 406 unconstitutional on November 28, 2023. A few hours later, President Laurentino Cortizo announced that the copper mine “offered” to FMQ would be closed.
These types of neo-colonial economic measures, which aim to cede national sovereignty for long periods, have already been applied on several occasions in Panama, probably the most infamous being the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty (or Convention of the Canal through the Isthmus). With this treaty, Panama ceded its sovereignty to the United States, which thus appropriated one of the most important commercial points in the world: the Panama Canal. In this way, the protests of 2023 join a long struggle of the Panamanian people against the economic and political impositions of the national and transnational oligarchic groups that promote this type of neocolonial activities.
Faced with the freezing of its bank accounts, SUNTRACS called a 24-hour strike on June 20. Road closures were reported in several cities by the mobilized workers, who demanded the restitution of “the workers’ funds”. During the demonstration, slogans such as “Here the crime was to fight for the dignity of the people” were heard. In addition, the strike managed to paralyze a good part of the construction industry.
In addition, Méndez assured that SUNTRACS filed a formal complaint for the freezing of its bank accounts before the International Labor Organisation and the Superintendency of Banks. He also assured that, despite these types of measures that seek to neutralize them, SUNTRACS will continue to denounce and mobilize in favour of the interests of the Panamanian people.