Panama City, September 22 (Prensa Latina) The President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo, announced today that an alternative to the controversial contract signed by the government and Minera Panama could be withdrawn from the National Assembly (Parliament).
During a community work tour, the president revealed to reporters that he prefers to wait for the report of the Trade and Economic Affairs Committee of the Legislative Council, which will be delivered next Monday, along with the results of citizen consultations and a visit to the Donoso copper mine. , a subsidiary of the Canadian transnational corporation First Quantum.
“Once this report is received, the decision will be made,” the head of state said, realizing that there is a possibility to amend this contract, a procedure similar to what happened with the Transparency and Transparency Law. Access to public information is questioned by mainstream media managers.
For Cortizo, there are precedents of legal contracts being withdrawn to make amendments, and regarding the mining agreement, he stated that he does not believe in the issue of non-binding consultation, because it does not have much meaning.
This provision has been questioned by social organizations in street demonstrations and protest marches against the project which the Supreme Court of Justice declared unconstitutional in 2017.
This week, the United Popular Alliance for Life filed a criminal complaint with Parliament for contempt of Cortizo and the current president of the Supreme Court, Justice María Eugenia Lopez, who allowed the mine to continue operating despite the Supreme Court ruling.
Regarding the agreement, academic and economist William Hughes explained to Prensa Latina that statistics on the economic benefits of the mine usually come from the foreign company, which makes them unreliable.
The professor at the University of Panama believes that the presence of one source (the company) creates distortion of the discussion and casts doubt on the government’s position by taking a position “without contradiction” with its own or independent statements.
He also agreed with social and environmental organizations calling for the mining contract to be rejected and insisted that the authorities must aim for a growth model that proposes genuine, non-predatory development.
Poem/ga
“Award-winning alcohol trailblazer. Hipster-friendly internetaholic. Twitter ninja. Infuriatingly humble beer lover. Pop culture nerd.”