Notes about the Protests in Panama
My home country of Panama is embroiled in massive protests across the country right now, all because the government gave a 40-year contract to a Canadian copper mine to extract minerals from a very remote area that can only be reached by 4x4 or helicopter.
The contract gives the Canadian company "absolute rights" (a rather vague term being used by the opponents of the contract) over 17,000 hectares of land on the Caribbean coast of Panama in a region that was previously all but uninhabited. This sounds like a lot of land, but it's actually about .396% of the forested land in Panama. Less than half of one percent.
For it's part, the mine employs about 7,000 people (when in operation) and directly or indirectly contributes to the livelihoods of about 40,000.
The most powerful and entrenched labor union in Panama, SUNTRACS, is angry because the miners formed their own union, therefore depriving SUNTRACS of a large amount of dues revenue.
So the labor union has whipped up a real fury about the mine contract being extended, and now people are stopping traffic all over the country. People are reporting being stuck for hours - sometimes even overnight, on the country's only highway. Ambulances cannot get through, and tourists are panicking.
the protests have caused reported losses of over $500 million for Panama's agricultural sector, and credit rating agencies are warning of significant consequences for Panama's fiscal health and creditworthiness. Tourists are choosing to go elsewhere, further causing economic hardship to the thousands of Panamanians who rely on tourism for their livelihoods. (Tourism represents about 6% of Panama's GDP.)
The road blockades have inflamed tensions across the country, and have reportedly led to criminals fleecing people for money to gain safe passage through the roadblocks.
Here are some thoughts:
Whether or not the mine is a bad thing, the protests are ultimately counterproductive and will do much more long-term damage to the country than a big hole in the ground.
That big hole is already there, so the environmental damage they are protesting is already done.
Most who are protesting the mine are doing so on social media using smartphones which rely on the very minerals the mine is extracting. Which is hypocritical.
Stopping traffic is kidnapping, or false imprisonment if you prefer, and should be criminalized. It is tantamount to kicking your dog because you had a fight with your wife, or burning down your local save-a-lot grocery to protest high food prices. It punishes the very people whose support you need to vote the bastards out come election day.
Panama is a great country with generally peaceable, humble people. If there was anything that should have got them out in the streets it should have been the TEN MONTH LOCKDOWNS that were imposed by the Cortizo administration as a response to COVID. But people happily went along with that. Now that somebody wants to invest in their country and create thousands of jobs, Panamanians are ready to burn the country down.
Corruption is a problem everywhere, but the bureaucrats barely feel these lockdowns. The elites fly into our little town in the mountains in their helicopters on the weekends. It's the pregnant mothers trying to get to the hospital and the tourists who spend their money in Panama who are being punished.
And finally, IF THESE PROTESTS SUCCEED, they will NEVER END. There's always something to be angry about. If the government allows these protesters to have their way, the roads will get blocked for every single issue from now on.
Either way, Panama loses. But the protesters aren't smart enough to see that.
