Open Letter in Solidarity with the Panamanian People in resistance against mining
Co-sign before Oct 5, 2023
Panamas Government
As a broad group of networks of social and environmental organizations from across Latin America and other continents, we raise our voices in solidarity and defense of life.
1. Faced with the extractivist mining onslaught on our Abya Yala, our sister country of Panama has been victim of a failed development model that has failed to help mitigate the world's environmental crisis. On the contrary, this model has increased unrest in socio-environmental governance, violating the human and environmental rights of thousands and thousands of Panamanians every day.
2. There is no such thing as sustainable mining in Panama, a country of only 75,000 km2, with coasts on both borders and one of the highest levels of precipitation in the world. The arguments that mining can be sustainable or improved through the use of technology fail to justify its negative impacts on biodiversity and peoples’ sovereignty.
3. Industrial mining activity is facilitated through anti-democratic regimes and has never been able to "substitute or compensate for" the environmental, legal or human rights harms that it causes. This is because it is based on the externalization of these social, environmental, economic, cultural and spiritual costs. Using tactics under the guise of Corporate Social Responsibility, and with the blessing of corrupt governments, companies cover up their exploitation of communities and workers.
4. In accord with those peoples who have declared NO TO MINING through legal and popular declarations, the below-signed international organizations and networks believe there is an urgent need to change current economic models, which are unsustainable in the context of the water crisis, hunger and the war for market control. Other economic models are possible and necessary, as we can observe in countries that have decreed NO TO MINING legally and by popular will, opting for a more just, humane and ecological path. Such pathways provide communities with the greatest benefit and are responsible toward what nature and human consensus provide.
5. We stand in deep solidarity with the Panamanian people in their legitimate and just struggle against mining and in defense of their socio-environmental sovereignty, in favor of economic productivity without the risks and deaths that the current environmental crisis is creating on every level. We also underscore our support for their struggle against a criminal mining contract being negotiated with Minera Cobre Panamá, that usurps the life of Panama.
Signed by the following international organizations and networks:
Co-signed by- Amarc Argentina, Argentina
- Asamblea Jáchal No Se Toca, Argentina
- Asamblea No a la Mina Esquel, Argentina
- Asamblea por un Mar Libre de petroleras Mar del Plara, Argentina
- Be. Pe. Bienaventurados los Pobres, Argentina
- Diálogo 2000 - Jubileo Sur Argentina, Argentina
- GRUPO DE REFLEXION RURAL - ARGENTINA, Argentina
- Instituto Castelli, Argentina
- Movimiento de Mujeres y Diversidades Indigenas por el Buen Vivir, Argentina
- Stay Grounded Network, Austria
- Aid/Watch, Australia
- Colectivo CASA, Bolivia
- Centro Dandara de Promotoras legais populares, Brazil
- centro de formação Saberes Kaapor, Brazil
- Comissão Pastoral da Terra (CPT), Brazil
- conselho de gestão Kaapor, Brazil
- CUT-Brasil, Brazil
- Instituto Cordilheira, Brazil
- Jubileu Sul Brasil, Brazil
- Movimento Xingu Vivo para Sempre, Brazil
- Mining Injustice Solidarity Network, Canada
- Mining Justice Alliance, Canada
- MiningWatch Canada, Canada
- Centro Agroecologico de rescate de semillas, Chile
- Centro Cultural Creando Valle, Chile
- Colectivo VientoSur, Chile
- Mujeres por el Buen Vivir, Chile
- Red de Hábitat Popular chile, Chile
- Red del Buen vivir, Chile
- AMARC ALC, Asociación Mundial de Radios Comunitarias, Colombia
- CENTRO JUVENIL OASIS DE PAZ - CAZUCÁ, Colombia
- Comunidades Setaa / Movimiento Rios Vivos Colombia, Colombia
- Observatorio Derechos de la Naturaleza, Colombia
- Pax Christi Internacional, Colombia
- Proceso de Comunidades Negras, Colombia
- BCCE, Costa Rica
- Código Sur, Costa Rica
- Fundación Keme, Costa Rica
- Movimiento Rios Vivos Costa Rica, Costa Rica
- Oilwatch Costa Rica, Costa Rica
- Voces Nuestras Centro de Comunicación Educativa, Costa Rica
- Rettet den Regenwald, Germany
- Selamatkan Hutan Hujan, Germany
- AfrosRD, Dominican Republic
- Brigada Cimarrona Sebastián Lemba., Dominican Republic
- ACCIÓN ECOLÓGICA, Ecuador
- Cabildo por el Agua de Cuenca, Ecuador, Ecuador
- COMUNA-Ecuador, Ecuador
- Corporación Toisán, Ecuador
- COVICA conversación vida cahuasqui, Ecuador
- DECOIN, Ecuador
- FUNDACIÓN CULTURAL ARTIS, Ecuador
- Fundación Pueblo Indio del Ecuador, Ecuador
- Fundación Vida Urbana, Ecuador
- Inst. De Estudios Ecologistas del Tercer Mundo, Ecuador
- Luna Creciente, Ecuador
- Napo Ama La Vida, Ecuador
- Observatorio Minero Ambiental y Social del Norte del Ecuador, Ecuador
- Radio MICC Online, Ecuador
- Red Ecuménica Iglesias y Minería -América Latina, Ecuador
- Saramanta Warmikuna, Ecuador
- Yasunidos Guapondelig, Ecuador
- Asociación Plataforma Cívica Alcalaboza Viva, Spain
- PLATAFORMA EN CONTRA DE LA MINA A CIELO ABIERTO EN EL NORDESTE SEGOVIANO, Spain
- Red Latina sin fronteras, Spain
- Salva la Selva, Spain
- Igapo Project, France
- Andrew Lees Trust, United Kingdom
- Earth Thrive, United Kingdom
- gaia foundation, United Kingdom
- Yes to Life No to Mining Network, United Kingdom
- ACONAPAMG, Guatemala
- Asociación Maíz de vida, Guatemala
- Colectivo La nota noticias como son, Guatemala
- Colectivo Madreselva, Guatemala
- Consejo del Pueblo Maya de Guatemala, Guatemala
- Fridays for future Guatemala, Guatemala
- Juventud Garífuna y Afrodescendiente Guatemalteca (JUGAGUA), Guatemala
- Red Mesoamericana de Educación Popular-RedAlforja, Guatemala
- Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria en Guatemala REDSAG, Guatemala
- Red Nacional por la Defensa de la Soberanía Alimentaria en Guatemala. REDSAG, Guatemala
- Red Tz’ikin, Guatemala
- Sindicato de Maestros de Guatemala-SMG-, Guatemala
- Alternativa de Reivindicación Comunitaria y Ambientlista de Honduras ARCAH, Honduras
- Barracón Digital, Honduras
- Centro de estudios de la mujer Honduras, Honduras
- CESADEH, Honduras
- ECORE, Honduras
- Grupo Mujeres campesinas, Honduras
- Manos de mujeres, Honduras
- Via Campesina Honduras, Honduras
- Kolektif Jistis Min (KJM), Haiti
- PAPDA, Haiti
- WALHI Sulawesi Selatan, Indonesia
- Communities Against the Injustice of Mining, Ireland
- Colectiva Cartográfica de los Sures Globales, Mexico
- Comité en defensa del territorio de Guadalcázar libre de minería, Mexico
- Cooperativa Sukuamis, Mexico
- Coordinadora de Pueblos y Organizaciones del Oriente del Estado de México en Defensa de la Tierra, el Agua y su Cultura (CPOOEM), Mexico
- DESMI A.C., Mexico
- Educa Oaxaca, Mexico
- Fondo Defensores, Mexico, Mexico
- Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC), Mexico
- Mexicaltzingo Cultural por la Defensa del Jardín, Mexico
- mujeres para el diálogo, Mexico
- ODEMCA: Observatorio de las democracias: sur de México y Centroamérica (CHIAPAS), Mexico
- Otros Mundos Chiapas, Mexico
- Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Sociales y Ambientales, Mexico
- Redes y Raíces: Red de acompañamiento psicológico comunitario, Mexico
- Ashanti Perú - red peruana de jóvenes afrodescendientes, Peru
- Asociacion Paz y Esperanza- Peru, Peru
- Marcha Mundial de las Mujeres Macronorte Perú, Peru
- Comuna Caribe, Puerto Rico
- Jornada Se Acabaron Las Promesas, Puerto Rico
- VOCES Paraguay, Red de Radios Comunitarias del Paraguay, Paraguay
- Alianza Centroamericana Frente a la Mineria, El Salvador
- Asociación Movimiento Salvadoreño de Mujeres MSM, El Salvador
- Cáritas de El Salvador, El Salvador
- Fundación Promotora de Cooperativas (FUNPROCOOP), El Salvador
- Jubileo Sur/Américas, El Salvador
- RedCAT, El Salvador
- Sindicato de Docentes Por Una Educación Para Todos, El Salvador., El Salvador
- Sindicato de Maestras y Maestros de la Educación Pública de El Salvador(SIMEDUCO), El Salvador
- SINDOPETS, El Salvador
- Denver Justice and Peace Committee, United States
- Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program, United States
- Observatorio de Ecología Política de Venezuela, Venezuela