Panama | Workers, teachers and indigenous people fight back

Negotiations with Chiquita regarding the fruit company's return to the plantations in Bocas del Toro are ongoing. "The government wants to preserve up to 7,000 jobs and revive banana production in the region. However, the Sitraibana union is not at the negotiating table," says William Hughes, economics professor at the state-run University of Panama (UP). Sitraibana, the plantation workers' union, is the strongest social organization in the region. It successfully called the approximately 7,000 workers on Chiquita Panamá's plantations to strike on April 28 in protest against the neoliberal pension reform, completely paralyzing the Bocas del Toro region with roadblocks for weeks.

Only through the mediation of a parliamentary commission and after some concessions by parliamentarians to the strikers did the strike end after 45 days in mid-June. However, Francisco Smith, chairman of Sitraibana, who negotiated the compromise, is under investigation for illegal road blockades and resistance. After several weeks in detention, he is currently under house arrest and has no chance to speak out for organized workers in the negotiations with Chiquita.

"Molino is pouring oil on the fire, taking massive action against unions and social organizations."

William Hughes economist

Because the government is pursuing a repressive policy against social organizations and, above all, against the unions, it is also cracking down on their leadership. " President Mulino announced during the election campaign that he would free Panama from the 'chokehold of the unions.' He represents an ultra-liberal section of the business community," said Hughes, longtime dean of the UP business school.

It's fitting that Mulino's closest advisor, Roberto Brenes, is an omnipresent and libertarian figure in the Panamanian financial world. He is a thorn in the side of the country's social organizations, as well as all regulations that restrict the economy. This includes requirements that impede or prohibit mining in Panama. President Mulino also has the abolition or weakening of these regulations on his political agenda.

The fact is that the reopening of Cobre Panamá, Central America's largest copper mine, managed by the Canadian company First Quantum, is particularly important to the conservative president . However, the Supreme Court closed the open-pit mine in October 2023, citing health risks. "Reopening it would be a massive violation of established jurisprudence," warns William Hughes. He accuses the Mulino government of an arrogant attitude toward social organizations.

This approach has brought Panama the most massive social protests of the past 30 years since April 28, according to Maribel Gordón. The 63-year-old economist ran for the Frente Amplio in the presidential elections in May 2024. She lost to Mulino, who received 34 percent of the vote. She criticizes Mulino for personally fueling the conflicts: "He's adding fuel to the fire, taking massive action against unions and social organizations."

In recent months, the focus has been on Suntracs, the construction workers' union. Its general secretary, Saúl Méndez, has been detained in the Bolivian embassy since May 21 because, like so many other union cadres, he is being criminalized by the judiciary. Two Suntracs officials from the inner circle of leadership are in custody, and six others are under investigation. Hughes and Gordón say this is typical of the government's actions against unions. Criticism has also come from the International Labor Organization (ILO), which has placed Panama on its "short list" of 24 states that engage in massive anti-union activities.

However, the government's repressive measures have been quite successful. After some concessions and lengthy negotiations with the teachers' union, a parliamentary commission has succeeded in getting them back to teaching since July 14. "However, the government has repeatedly publicly reiterated that it will not change the new pension law. Furthermore, teachers involved in the protests continue to receive notices of termination. The conflict continues," said William Hughes.

Protests against police repression, which has claimed at least four lives, are taking place in the very north of the country, in the banana-growing province of Bocas del Toro, and also in the far south. There, in the province of Darién, a huge reservoir is planned to supply the Panama Canal with additional water. To achieve this, indigenous communities in particular are to be expropriated. They have been protesting against this for several weeks. "Nothing has changed. We are dealing with a simmering conflict that is placing a massive strain on the economy," said the economist. A solution is not in sight.