Panamanian Indigenous Peoples Support Social Protests
Protests in Panama City, April 29, 2025. Photo: EFE
April 30, 2025 Hour: 9:26 am
Teachers, workers, and students reject the policies implemented by President Mulino.
On Tuesday, the National Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP) expressed its support for the protests being carried out by teachers, workers, and students against the policies implemented by President Jose Mulino.
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More specifically, they oppose Law 462, which seeks to privatize social security, and the memorandum of understanding with the United States, which allows for the presence of foreign military forces on Panamanian soil. Below is the full COONAPIP statement:
“The National Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples of Panama, which brings together the twelve comarcal territories and collective indigenous lands of the country, hereby declares to the Panamanian people and the national and international community the following:
1. We firmly support the peaceful protest of the teachers, recognizing their legitimate right to demand better labor and social conditions for the benefit of the entire nation and to express their discontent with the proposed reforms to Law 462 of the Social Security Fund.
2. We strongly oppose the reopening of open-pit mining projects—an activity that has demonstrated severe environmental, social, and cultural impacts, causing irreversible harm to our territories and to Mother Nature.
3. We categorically reject the demand made by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, for unrestricted transit of U.S. vessels through the Panama Canal. We demand strict adherence to the Neutrality Treaty and the Organic Law of the Canal, sovereign legal instruments that equitably regulate transits and applicable tariffs for all nations, without exception.
4. As Indigenous peoples, we reaffirm our commitment to dialogue, respect, and social peace. We believe in building solutions through consensus and the full participation of all sectors.
5. We demand that the National Government immediately address the just demands of the Panamanian people and Indigenous peoples and seek real solutions that ensure the well-being, human rights, and sustainable future of Panama.
From within our territories, we remain on high alert and in permanent mobilization in defense of life, dignity, and the self-determination of our peoples. Unity, resilience, and dignity for the Indigenous peoples and the Panamanian people!”