By: strategyynegocios.net
Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo, amid protests, approved a new contract with Canada’s First Quantum Minerals to operate the country’s largest Central American mine.
Cortizo approved the draft law that had been approved hours earlier by the National Assembly of Representatives by a vote of 44 votes to 5, with 2 abstentions, according to the Official Gazette of Panama, where the document bearing the president’s signature appears.
Lawmakers have given the green light to a contract stipulating a minimum annual income of US$375 million for the Panamanian state, ten times more than the previous agreement.
In addition, the Canadian company is committing to another $1 million investment in communities near the mine located on the Caribbean coast, 240 kilometers by road from the Panamanian capital.
This approval came amid protests against the contract that allows the mining company to operate in Panama for 20 years, extendable for another 20 years. As a result, access roads to Panama City were intermittently closed, with burning tires and parades; While the demonstrators there confronted the police with stones, blunt objects, and fireworks.
Dispute by agreement
The mining company and the Panamanian government reached an agreement this year to sign a new concession contract, after the Supreme Court of Justice declared the original exploitation contract unconstitutional in 2017.
As of February 2019, the mine produces approximately 300,000 tons of copper concentrate annually and employs more than 8,000 people.
The company has invested more than US$10 billion in Panama and contributes 4% of GDP to the Panamanian economy. Its shipments represent 75% of the country’s exports.
The Panamanian government says that through the mine’s contributions, it will be able to pump resources into the public pension fund and improve monthly payments for the lowest pensions.
Official Representative Roberto Abrego said: “This bill is good for the country, not only for its population but for its international image, as we are facing the largest private investment in the history” of Panama.
But there are sectors that oppose it because they consider that the contract is “unconstitutional” and that the company’s contributions to the state are insufficient, in addition to that it represents a danger to the environment.
“This is a shame,” former president and 2024 presidential candidate Martin Torrijos said in a video clip. He added: “They will carry on their conscience this historical mistake that will affect this generation and generations to come.”
The Archbishop of Panama, José Domingo Ulloa, and several Catholic bishops have also publicly expressed their disapproval of the contract.
Centrist presidential candidate Ricardo Lombana wrote on his account on the X website (formerly Twitter): “You traitors, let us take to the streets to show them that they are not the owners of the country.”
*With information from Agence France-Presse.
