"Panama’s vast Cobre mine is closed. So why is their security still restricting access to local villages?", 21 January 2025

Panama: Indigenous communities accuse Minera Panamá of inter

...For the people of the nine Indigenous communities within the perimeter of the sprawling Cobre Panamá copper mine, travelling into and out of the concession is far from straightforward. An imposing metal gateway staffed by the mining company’s security guards blocks the road. People say the company severely restricts their movement in and out of the zone, letting them through only on certain days.

The mining concession...is owned by Canada-based First Quantum Minerals, which operates through its local subsidiary, Minera Panamá. The company’s private security guards, not the national police, patrol the concession. Local residents, mostly subsistence farmers of modest means, say that First Quantum operates as a state within a state.

Their frustrations are all the greater because the mine has been closed for the past year...

Minera Panamá says it provides a daily free bus service into and out of the zone. However, this rotates between the various communities, meaning that access is only possible twice a week for any one individual. Outside those two days, they are stuck, causing serious difficulties, they say, for those with urgent needs, such as medical emergencies...

Six rivers rise in the territory and local people report unexplained mass deaths of fish and prawns. They also describe a rise in illnesses and deaths since the mine started operations in 2014. Symptoms reported include vomiting, diarrhoea, stomach and kidney complaints, fever and skin lesions...

Eight people from the village suffering similar symptoms, including Abrego’s mother and another daughter, were eventually transferred to a hospital outside the zone by the health ministry...

First Quantum Minerals did not respond to requests for comment...