About mining activity in our soil

Lately, I’ve seen many demonize the fact that while large organized sectors of the citizenry express their unease at the approval of a contract with a mining company, many others – who are within their rights – respect folklore and native customs which go back to the past of different cities in our interior, actively and enthusiastically participating in the activities. One thing, it is true, has nothing to do with the other.

Watching youth, from an early age, participating in popular events is a reason to be more than proud, which we as Panamanians know how to appreciate. In fact, there is a greater awareness of belonging to this country through the repetition of such ceremonies every year, which remind us in the most responsible way where we come from and how sublime our national culture is. If it is believed that damaging private property or obstructing national traffic shows love for the homeland in a better and more effective way, I have the right, like many others, to think otherwise.

The strength of the protest does not require that anything or anyone be harmed; i.a testimony that we can see in the demands that leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King realized.

Mining is of vital importance to our people and I believe that there is no one in their right mind who has not already understood this reality. I think the law was passed at the speed of a quarter-mile race, without a thought that the horses ran over it; I think that there should have been greater participation not only by those who could simply be against it, but also by them entire population that, earning their income from the work provided to that industry, they also have the right to an opinion and, in the end, I believe that we have not even begun to outline what such a contractual marriage could mean in the future, in the face of the relationship too long which will persevere beyond almost all who may now declare against or for it.

In very basic terms, I believe that the mining company must not only make the payments that have already been agreed, but also contribute significantly to the progress of each of the cities where the operation is carried out, ensuring that the new generations completely understand what they give in exchange for that activity and, to a certain extent, they receive a generational compensation for that undeniable fact.

To some extent, they will have to undertake perhaps the largest compensation ever agreed upon with the Panamanian people, and to achieve this, they must necessarily pay those debts and obligations that no government has been able to meet. within communities which are within the radius of mining operations. Additional layers of regulation must also be established so that local authorities, called municipal representatives and mayors, have oversight powers when specific threats that could affect residents are identified to a certain extent.

I can’t buy silence by digesting what provide wagesbut the reality is that the number of jobs and the level of progress I have personally seen in Penonomé makes any open opposition to mining activity, at this time, utter nonsense and an insult to all those local labors.

They the workers did not give him a mandate for any group to put at stake what is today a source of work and well-being for their homes. It is true that

that law will never be able to enjoy real and firm legal certainty if consensus is not reached and changes are made. As far as I am concerned, it is not a mining law, but a law that will always be subject to revision; which is a sovereign right our country and the request of every citizen born in these areas.