The Minister of the Environment, Juan Carlos Navarro, raised the alarm and stated that a 'mafia' controls the fees for waste dumping and tire burning in Playa Chiquita, a district of Playa Leona, in the province of West Panama. He recalled that in May 2024, the Ministry of the Environment had already filed a complaint with the Public Ministry, but investigations have been underway since 2023. Tire burning, he said, is done to extract the steel wire inside, a dirty business that is leaving smoke, stench, and pollution over the nearby neighborhoods. Navarro explained that he has already requested the Municipality of La Chorrera and the Playa Leona Community Board to permanently close the area to halt this environmental damage. He also asked that traders who take tires to that point be fined because they are part of the problem. The minister did not hold back and described this practice as 'a low blow,' ensuring that those who transport garbage and tires to Playa Chiquita are 'criminals' who are destroying the community. He reminded that this case is very similar to what happened in Escudo de Veraguas-Dego, where they had also turned the area into an open-air landfill. Here, he assured, they will not stand by idly and will seek joint work with local authorities to close the accesses used to dump waste and burn tires.
