2023 Panamanian Protests

A series of protests began in Panama on 20 October 2023 following the immediate passing of a 20-to-40-year mining contract between the government of Panama and First Quantum Minerals, the operator of Cobre Panamá, the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America, placed 20 minutes away from the western coast of Colon Province and within a protected area of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor.

Demonstrations started in Panama City shortly after Laurentino Cortizo, the president of Panama, signed into law the mining contract approved by the National Assembly in a 43–5 vote, in less than 12 hours. The protests and road closures expanded nationwide as soon as the public learned of the undisclosed details of the negotiation and approval process of the mining contract. Demonstration hotspots included Panama City, Colón, La Chorrera, Penonomé, Santiago and David, with massive demonstrations for many days, and multiple road closures throughout the Pan-American Highway and minor roads.

President Laurentino Cortizo and his administration appeared multiple times on national media discussing protests and the economic impact of the road closures, justifying their support of the mining contract, without significant progress being made in reducing demonstrations. Eventually, the president proposed a national referendum on whether to preserve the mining contract, which was initially approved by the National Assembly even though it faced strong opposition of the public and the Electoral Tribunal (the electoral commission of the country), but was later dismissed due to numerous concerns. An initiative of repelling the mining contract with a new law was also initially approved by the National Assembly, but it was dismissed by consensus as well, as numerous lawyers suggested that the unconstitutionality would be the most appropriate way to shut down Cobre Panamá and ensuring better defense in an eventual international arbitration process.

Following weeks of protests, the National Assembly approved a bill suspending new mining concessions in Panamanian territory on 3 November 2023, which was immediately signed into law by President Laurentino Cortizo. Meanwhile, First Quantum Minerals was forced to reduce their operations in Cobre Panamá due to the road and sea blockades near the mine and the Punta Rincón port, their exporting area, by fishermen of the Donoso District.

On 28 November 2023, the Supreme Court of Justice unanimously ruled the mining contract as unconstitutional, indicating that it infringed numerous articles of the Constitution. The Supreme Court ruling was widely supported by the people, and celebrations erupted around the country. On the same day, President Cortizo told the public that his administration will ensure the safe and orderly closure of the mine, in compliance with the ruling. Federico Alfaro, minister of Commerce and Industries and a vocal supporter of the mining contract, resigned from office on 30 November 2023 amid increasing calls from the public following his involvement in the controversy.

Four people died in the protests: two in traffic incidents while attempting to close roads, while the remaining two (a teacher and another's husband) were fatally shot in a road closure in Chame District by an elderly man with Panamanian and American citizenship.

Background

Prior to 2021

Cobre Panamá is the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America. The exploration process for the mine was started during the presidency of Guillermo Endara, who assumed office on 20 December 1989 as the first elected president of Panama since Arnulfo Arias in 1968. The original mining contract was given to ''Petaquilla Gold, S.A.'' through the Law 9, approved on 26 February 1997 by the National Assembly during the presidency of Ernesto Pérez Balladares.

Richard Fifer, CEO of Petaquilla, sold the concession rights over the mine to First Quantum Minerals (a Canadian-based mining company) for $60 million, with the Panamanian law firm Morgan & Morgan acting as intermediary of the process; however, this action was not allowed by the mining contract of 1997. Juan Carlos Varela, who served as president of Panama from 2014 to 2019, extended the concession for an additional 20 years in 2016. It is reported that all presidents of Panama in the post-intervention era (starting from 1989) have been involved in expanding or supporting the operations of the copper mine, including Mireya Moscoso, Martín Torrijos and Ricardo Martinelli, all of whom served from 1999 to 2014.

Lawyers Juan Ramón Sevillano and Susana Serracín filed a claim for the unconstitutionality of Law 9 during 1998, but it was not ruled by the Supreme Court of Justice until 25 September 2018, 21 years later. The ruling was formally published in the government gazette on 2021, three years after the Supreme Court's decision, and First Quantum Minerals was forced to renegotiate the concession with the government of Panama under President Laurentino Cortizo, while they were illegally exploiting the mine and doing unlawful activities in the area.

Negotiations and contract draft

Following the publication of the Supreme Court ruling on early 2021, First Quantum Minerals started negotiations with the administration of Laurentino Cortizo to write a new mining contract. As reported by the government, the initial negotiations resulted in expanding the revenue for the Panamian government to $375 million and royalty payments from 12-to-16%; additionally, it was agreed that Cobre Panamá must pay numerous taxes they were exempted of by the 1997 contract. It was reported that these payments would be used for numerous social programs that were underfunded.

Even though the government of Panama claimed that this mining contract would be beneficial for the people, numerous lawyers and environmental activists denied those claims and insisted that the new concessions would be extremely damaging for the surroundings of Cobre Panamá, and the Panama Canal. The mining contract explicitly authorized First Quantum Minerals to destroy forests surrounding Cobre Panamá if it was determined that they had useful resources to expand the mine, and gave them the right to expropriate land from nearby residents for the same reason. It was also reported that the mine could use and divert the course of numerous nearby rivers, including the Indio river (which flows into the Donoso District), which are potentially interrelated with the Panama Canal water system. The expansion of Cobre Panamá would be potentially dangerous for the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, as the mine is already placed within one of its protected areas, and could threaten the water supply of numerous settlements near the Panama Canal and the Canal itself.

Final contract

Following nationwide controversy about the content of the original draft, the Panamanian government decided to withdraw it on 3 October 2023 and promised to remove its controversial content. Minister Federico Alfaro re-introduced the amended contract to the National Assembly and it was approved by an standing committee on 18 October 2023 with a 7–2 vote.

The plenary session of the National Assembly approved the Bill 1100, which legalized the mining contract between First Quantum Minerals and the government of Panama, in second and third debate within a timespan of less than 48 hours following the committee's vote. In the ''second debate'', held on 19 October 2023, 58 of the 71 members (81.69%) voted; while in the ''third debate'', held on 20 October 2023, 50 of the 71 members (70.42%) voted.

All but two of the present members of the PRD, all members of the MOLIRENA, two members (Everardo Concepción and Bernardino González) of the Panameñista Party, and 9 members of Democratic Change (all from the supporting coalition of former president Ricardo Martinelli) voted in support of the mining contract during the ''second debate.'' Nine members voted in opposition: Eugenio Bernal and Zulay Rodríguez from the PRD; Hugo Méndez, Pedro Torres and Elías Vigil from the Panameñista Party; and unaffiliated members Edison Broce, Raúl Fernández, Gabriel Silva and Juan Diego Vásquez.

In the ''third debate'', 41 members repeated their votes in support of the mining contract, with PRD members Petita Ayarza and Benicio Robinson joining them for the first time. Six members who voted in support but missed this debate: Ricardo Santo, Raúl Pineda, Mariano López and Néstor Guardia from the PRD; Dalia Bernal and Nelson Jackson from Democratic Change. On the other hand, five members voted in opposition during the ''third debate'': Zulay Rodríguez from the PRD; and unaffiliated members Edison Broce, Raúl Fernández, Gabriel Silva and Juan Diego Vásquez. Four members voted in opposition but missed this debate: Eugenio Bernal from the PRD; Hugo Méndez, Pedro Torres and Elías Vigil from the Panameñista Party. Less than 12 hours after the approval by the National Assembly, President Laurentino Cortizo signed into law the mining contract as Law 406 of 20 October 2023, with unanimous consent of the members of the Council of Ministers.

Controversies

Conflict of interest

La Prensa, a Panamanian newspaper, reported numerous infringements of the regulations concerning conflict of interest, related to the mining contract, by three ministers of the administration of Laurentino Cortizo: Federico Alfaro, minister of Commerce and Industries; Aristides Royo, minister of Canal Affairs and former president of Panama; and Rafael Sabonge, minister of Public Works. As reported by the newspaper, they infringed these laws for the following reasons:

* Federico Alfaro, minister of Commerce and Industries, requested the solicitor general Rigoberto González to not announce any opinion related to the negotiation and approval of law 406, as González warned the administration of Cortizo about repeating the same errors that eventually made unconstitutional the 1997 mining contract.
* Aristides Royo, minister of Canal Affairs, voted in favour of the mining contract during a vote in the Council of Ministers as a member of the law firm Morgan & Morgan, which is responsible for defending the interests of First Quantum Minerals over Cobre Panamá.
* Rafael Sabonge, minister of Public Works, voted in favour of the mining contract during a vote in the Council of Ministers as he is CEO of a real estate company that is building a residential project for employees of Cobre Panamá.
* Even though he is not mentioned in this article, La Prensa also reported that cabinet advisor José A. Rojas Pardini is a founding partner of the real estate company headed by Rafael Sabonge, minister of Public Works, which is related to a residential project for employees of Cobre Panamá.

Incumbent vice president and 2024 presidential candidate José Gabriel Carrizo was also reported of infringing conflict of interest regulations as he served as lawyer for ''Petaquilla Gold'', the early owner of Cobre Panamá, of which his mother Lydia Jaén de Carrizo served as executive. Another 2024 presidential candidate, Rómulo Roux, who served as minister of Foreign Affairs during the presidency of Ricardo Martinelli and the current president of Democratic Change, is also heavily involved with First Quantum Minerals as a member of the law firm Morgan & Morgan; Roux has been a vocal supporter of the mining contract, and criticized politicians who opposed it saying that "They should stop talking crap" during a YouTube podcast with OliMezaTV.

Aftermath

Supreme Court decision

On 28 November 2023, the 9 justices of the Supreme Court of Justice unanimously ruled the mining contract, signed into law by President Laurentino Cortizo last month, as unconstitutional. Through a 234-page document containing arguments of the plaintiffs Juan Ramón Sevillano and Martita Cornejo, solicitor general Rigoberto González, and 90 legal opinions from numerous lawyers in support or opposition of the unconstitutionality of the mining contract.

The justices determined that the mining contract between First Quantum Minerals and the government of Panama infringed twenty-five articles of the Panamanian constitution, including numerous articles concerning the sovereignty, the duty of preserving people's safety, the fundamental rights and the international law: articles 4, 17, 18, 19, 20, 32, 43, 46, 56, 109, 118, 119, 120, 121, 124, 159 (sections 10 and 15), 163 (section 1), 200 (section 3), 257 (section 5), 258, 259, 266, 285, 286 and 298. As the Supreme Court also upheld their 2017 ruling, and reported that First Quantum Minerals illegally exploited the mine for the span between 2021 and 2023, María Eugenia López ( chief justice of the Supreme Court) said during the public announcement of the ruling that the mining contract would be removed from the Panamanian regulatory system; therefore, the government of Panama must ensure the orderly and safe shutting down of the operation of First Quantum Minerals in Panamanian territory. The ruling was published in the government gazette four days later, on 2 December 2023, effectively ending the protests in the country.

Public reaction

The Supreme Court's ruling was widely supported by the people and numerous lawyers, and celebrations erupted throughout the country. The plaintiffs Juan Ramón Sevillano and Martita Cornejo, who were also prominent leaders of the demonstrations, celebrated the ruling and called it an outstanding victory following weeks of protests opposing the mining contract. There were numerous celebrations in Panama City, with the hotspot being in the financial center located in San Francisco, and other major cities and towns.

Protesters decided to withdraw most road closures thorughout the Pan-American Highway and other minor roads, and basic products started to be distributed again throughout Panama. Teachers agreed to dismiss their labor strike on 2 December 2023 and in-person classes were resumed in all Panamanian state and private schools on 6 December. On the same day, 2 December, protesters agreed to withdraw the remaining road closures in Chiriquí Province following the publication of the Supreme Court ruling in the government gazette.

Public opinion of the administration of Laurentino Cortizo and most members of the National Assembly was severely damaged, with the governing parties PRD and MOLIRENA getting poor support and candidates' stance on mining in Panama becoming a flashpoint for the upcoming general elections. These protests are the largest held during the Panamanian post-intervention era, as the largest demonstrations since the National Civic Crusade between 1987 and 1989 in opposition to the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega (supported by the PRD).

2024 general election

Following the general election on 5 May 2024, the governing coalition of PRD and MOLIRENA suffered major losses in both national and local elections, with the PRD getting its worst-ever electoral result. Its candidate, incumbent vice president José Gabriel Carrizo, came in sixth place with 5.88% of the vote; and they lost a total of 26 seats in the National Assembly, with most of the members who voted for the mining contract being ousted. Rómulo Roux, candidate of CD and Panameñista Party and a vocal supporter of the mining contract, came in fourth place with 11.38% of the vote and the coalition lost 10 seats in the National Assembly (with none of the previous members being reelected), including 3 seats allocated to members who were reelected as members of Realizing Goals.

References

{{Reflist

Protests in North America
2023 protests
2023 in Panama
Mining and the environment
Social movements in Panama