On March 18 the Panamanian Congress unanimously approved a law project that abolished February’s regulation that reformed the Mineral Resource Law. This regulation caused mass social and indigenous movement protests. The protesters rejected the regulation because they deemed it harmful to their land.
The law known as Law 8 of 2011, that the government issued on Feb. 11 and that was backed by Congress, allowed strip mining of mineral deposits, especially copper. It also allowed foreign governments to exploit the Panamanian subsoil through means of state agencies who work in conjunction with mining companies.
Upon the government’s commitment to make a law that would prohibit mining and prospecting on their land, indigenous communities and Panamanian government representatives started negotiations in regards to the mining law on Feb. 2. They would also free protesters who were in police custody in exchange for the highways to be cleared by the thousands of demonstrators that were blocking it.
The Panamanian government attempted to pacify the disgruntled indigenous people with a law that prohibited mining in native lands, but the attempt was unsuccessful.
The indigenous Panamanians, primarily from the Ngöbe Buglé people, continued to fight for the abolishment of the law despite police retaliations. The February protests against the regulations that were approved by Ricardo Martinelli’s cabinet generally took place in Ojo de Agua, Viguí, Boca de Monte, el Salado, Chorcha, San Lorenzo y San Félix in the Comarca Ngäbé, Veraguas in El Prado, Santiago city, Tolé and David in Chiriquí, Penonomé, Puerto Armuelles in the province of Bocas del Toro in Pueblo Nuevo, Almirante, Chiriquí Grande, Changuinola and Pacora in eastern Panama, and in Panama City.
Members of the Coordinating Committee for the Defense of Natural Resources and Campesino Rights responded with joy at the decision to abolish the regulation. This group informed the indigenous community of the scope of the abolition of the law and they held a round table to debate proposals from the indigenous people in regards to a new mining law project.
Panama has concentrated gold and copper reserves that, according to the authorities, could become a secondary source of income to the interoceanic canal that crosses the Central American country.