At a press conference, Conusi Secretary General Marco Andrade stated that officials from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, accompanied by police forces, raided the organization’s headquarters, supposedly as part of an investigation by the specialized prosecutor’s office against organized crime.

He remembered that this is not simply a way for union leaders to be labeled criminals, but rather a maneuver by the Executive branch to silence dissenting voices against its unpopular policies.

In this regard, Andrade mentioned a recent meeting between the Minister of Labor and Workforce Development, Jackeline Munoz, and the United States Ambassador to Panama, Kevin Marino.

He also remembered that in January or February of next year, the administration of Jose Raul Mulino intends to revisit the issue of the Donoso copper mine (Colon) to reopen that site, despite the widespread rejection of open-pit metallic mining expressed at the end of 2023.

VThe union leader added that a Supreme Court ruling two years ago declared unconstitutional a contract signed by the State with the Canadian transnational First Quantum, in addition to the environmental damage caused by that facility.

The persecution against Conusi, he said, is now in addition to previous actions against educators, construction workers (whose new leadership they suspiciously ignore), and banana workers in Bocas del Toro who opposed Law 462 of the Social Security Fund.

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