(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . More of somethings completely different... from Panama [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-28 Last night President Cortizo made a brief televised speech. (Five minutes) He said that no more new mine concessions will be made but anything from the current mining contract will remain in place. This seems to be a bit of a capitulation as he signed the new mine contract with First Quantum (Canadian) only a week ago. It is largely a copper mine (and a really huge one) but the issues in question are other mine products, environmental degradation, indigenous lands, general corruption and wages of course. It was a very short speech in which he signed the document regarding any new mining concessions and mentioned that Panama has been officially been removed from the Financial Action Task Force Gray list. As I understand, this last bit means that it is accepted that Panama is now doing enough to combat corruption that foreign investments might increase enough to help the economy. My Panamanian neighbors feel that this will NOT be enough. Their belief is that the entire contract needs to be corrected. I am not exactly sure what all the complaints are but one huge complaint is that this is a 40 year long contract. Environmental chaos also seems to play a role in their thinking. None the less, outside this community, where I live, it seems the speech did little to subdue the unrest. More vandalism happened last night in Panama City after the speech. But, as with many/most protests, this may have very little to do with the mine contract. One neighbor even thinks the vandals are being paid for it. (Sounds a bit too close to the crap from US Republicans RE crisis actors. But she is Panamanian so I don’t know.) All public schools and universities have been closed all this week. So far, University of Panama has extended its shut down to Monday and Tuesday next week. More protests/ marches all over Panama City this morning and more road closures all across the country as well. Some hospitals are now reporting low supplies of oxygen as trucks have been unable to make deliveries. And one more variable to add to the mix. The immigrants coming into Panama crossing through the Darien Gap have not stopped just because of all this. It is estimated that thousands make it every day but probably have not been able to leave the border area. I have no idea how that will play out as the Panamanians understandably would want to take care of their own first. With food and gas now done in some towns, I can understand that. And by no means am I thinking that any of this comes close to I/P or Ukraine or Maine…yet. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/28/2202173/-More-of-somethings-completely-different-from-Panama?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/