November 28, 2023
‘The Mine is Death’ over 1200 arrested in the struggle to close it.
Panama’s Supreme Court (PSC) on Tuesday declared “unconstitutional” the contract that renewed the concession for the exploitation of the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America, which triggered a protest movement that has spread for more than a month throughout the country. During that time there have been over 1200 protestors arrested.
The decision, demanded by the protests of unions from several branches, could be an inflection to a national crisis and could open a front of international arbitration by the mine operator, Minera Panama, a subsidiary of the Canadian company First Quantum Minerals (FQM).
The ruling was announced by the president of the PSC, María Eugenia López, by “unanimity” of the plenary of nine magistrates declared the unconstitutionality in response to two appeals filed against Law 406, approved last October 20 by the unicameral Parliament and President Laurentino Cortizo, and which contains the contract.
López explained that “the magistrates that make up the plenary have unanimously decided to declare unconstitutional all of Law 406 of October 20, 2023. This means that the referred law is expelled from the normative system that governs the country”, he declared.
He also indicated that once the sentence is “executed”, it will proceed “to issue it for its publication in the Official Gazette”.
With this ruling, the contract “technically ceases to exist” Law 406, which contains the mining contract and, consequently, the Executive will have, in the short term, to order the cessation of operations of the mine, which is not the same as its closure, a process that will take years according to the experts.
The ruling was received with jubilation by the people who for weeks have maintained a vigil at the Supreme Court of Justice awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice, which since last Friday has been analyzing the first two of the 10 lawsuits filed against Law 406.
The union Suntracs described the result of the court as a popular victory and a triumph of the people in the streets.
Source: Telesur, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English