Sociologist, teacher, and university researcher Florencio Díaz emphasizes that despite the victories achieved in protests in previous years, a theoretical and epistemological discourse promoting an environmental rationality structured from cultural diversity has not been developed. In Panama, the contract with Minera Panamá has motivated a citizenship committed to the environment, access to water, and climate change, generating discontent and unity around the objective of repealing said contract.
In the Central American country, a social movement of an environmental nature has emerged that actively defends territories, worldviews, water, and biodiversity, rejecting the conception of nature as a commodity. It is evident that the protection of the environment must be a priority in Panama, which since 1989 has followed an economic policy based on extractivism, with mining and energy concessions as a fundamental part.
The influence of extractivism on Panamanian politics was notable during the presidency of Martín Torrijos (2005-2009), who promoted open-pit mining and the construction of large dams. Emphasis is placed on the importance of adopting an environmental rationality that establishes a new planetary order, where the relationships between nature, the social, the cultural, the economic, and the political are not hierarchized.
Socio-environmental conflicts in Panama have mainly arisen in indigenous, peasant, and coastal communities, whose ancestral practices are threatened. Despite attempts by the government to promote mining as a driver of national development, the resistance of the population has remained firm, reflecting varied discourses and employing different struggle strategies.
The neoliberalization of nature in Panama has led to the privatization and degradation of natural resources, generating an unequal distribution of benefits and environmental harms. Environmental awareness has grown in various sectors of society, which has translated into active participation in the political contest, including urban and rural sectors, workers, indigenous people, environmentalists, youth, and other groups.
The signing of contracts with extractive companies, such as the case of Minera Panamá during the government of Laurentino Cortizo, has been the reason for strong protests and conflicts, evidencing the discord between the state’s interest in extractivism and the citizens’ concern for the protection of the environment and natural resources. In this context, the struggle for the defense of territories, biodiversity, and traditional ways of life remains relevant in Panama, challenging the imposition of a homogenizing and market-oriented vision of nature.
