Central America
Central America’s biggest mine faces closure over tax spat
| By AFP | Francisco Jara |
Rising up through the lush vegetation of Panama’s Caribbean coast, a 125-meter chimney serves as a beacon for helicopters approaching the largest mine in Central America, which faces closure next week over a contract dispute.
Gigantic 400-tonne trucks slowly wind around the stepped slopes of a massive gash in the earth one kilometer wide, the ochre and grey of the copper mine standing in stark contrast to the verdant jungle surrounding it.
The activity could grind to an expensive halt in a matter of days.
Canadian mining giant First Quantum Minerals has until next Wednesday to sign a new contract with the government, which is demanding the company multiply the taxes it pays by 10.
If the parties do not agree, the disagreement could halt the work of a mining project considered the largest private investment in Panama’s history, contributing four percent of the country’s GDP and 75 percent of export revenues.
“We have been given a deadline to sign the new contract by December 14, to accept the new terms,” First Quantum’s manager in Panama, Keith Green, who is Scottish, told AFP.
“We intend to reach an agreement, but negotiations are a bit deadlocked,” he added.
First Quantum, one of the largest copper miners in the world, began commercial copper production at the site in Donoso in 2019, through its subsidiary Minera Panama.
It has spent $10 billion on earthworks, construction buildings to house more than 7,000 employees, the purchase of heavy machinery, a power plant, a port for deep-draft merchant ships, access roads, and re-forestation plans.
‘Fair income’
President Laurentino Cortizo in January announced plans to toughen the conditions of the mining license, with a new contract that would oblige the mining company to pay “at least” $375 million to Panama annually — ten times what it is currently paying.
“Panama has the inalienable right to receive fair income from the extraction of its mineral resources, because the copper is Panamanian,” he said.
This mine is “the biggest in Central America,” producing 300,000 tons of copper concentrate per year, said Green.
The deposit, discovered in 1968, lies on the Caribbean coast, 240 kilometers by road from the capital Panama City.
The company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, built the Punta Rincon International Port next to the mine to transport the copper by ship, due to a lack of roads connecting the Colon port, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
Despite the uncertainty over the mine’s future, activity has not slowed and the company has continued to invest in the site.
A new 200-tonne drilling rig — as tall as a three-story building — was inaugurated in a ceremony on Tuesday, causing heavy air traffic.
Helicopter pilot Oldemar Arauz explains that most officials visiting the mine prefer the one-hour air trip to the four-hour drive on a narrow road from the capital.
The drilling rig, made in the United States by the Swedish company Epiroc, cost $6 million, and was transported to the mine in 10 trucks.
“Latin America has 200 of these drills, 50 in Chile and now three in Panama,” said Epiroc’s Latin America manager Hans Traub.
The drill was assembled by Chilean engineer Alex Gonzalez, who previously worked in Chuquicamata, the world’s largest open pit copper mine, situated in the Atacama desert, which has been operating since 1915.
Central America does not have the same mining tradition seen further south. Mining is illegal in Costa Rica and El Salvador, and while there is much potential for growth in Panama, the industry’s future is now hanging in the balance.
Central America
Guatemala sees road blockades amid protests against lawmaker pay hikes
At least 16 points are blocked in Guatemala on Monday by the Committee for the Development of Rural Communities (Codeca), which is protesting the salary increase for members of Congress. The lawmakers are set to receive their third paycheck since the salary adjustment was approved in November 2024.
Although the Congressional Board of Directors announced the suspension of the salary increase at the end of March through an official document, it was later stated that the measure must be ratified by the full legislative body, requiring the approval of at least 81 of the 160 members. No reversal of this decision has been made so far. The salary of lawmakers has risen from GTQ 29,150 ($3,784) to GTQ 66,300 ($8,607). Their third elevated salary will be issued on Monday, according to local media.
The 23 deputies from the Semilla party, with which Bernardo Arévalo won the presidency, did not vote in favor of the proposal when it was presented. However, reports suggest that this may have been part of a negotiation with the opposition to approve a reform to the Law Against Organized Crime, aimed at ending legal persecution against them, as reported by the media outlet República. “The government must remember that the people defended it and it must serve the people,” stated Codeca’s official post on X (formerly Twitter).
Other grievances raised by the protesters include the rising cost of basic goods, demands to halt water privatization, an end to forced evictions, and the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras.
The Constitutional Court (CC) granted a provisional injunction on Sunday, ordering the government to allow free movement. While the court permitted the protest to proceed, it stated that the rights of the general public to mobility and access to commercial transport services should not be interrupted.
Central America
Nicaragua’s Ortega and Murillo Mourn Pope Francis, Acknowledge ‘Difficult’ Relationship
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, who also serve as co-leaders of the country, expressed their condolences on Monday following the death of Pope Francis, acknowledging that their relationship with the late pontiff had been “difficult” and “troubled.” Nicaragua officially suspended diplomatic ties with the Vatican during his papacy.
“Our relationship, as Nicaraguans who are believers, devoted and faithful to the doctrine of Christ Jesus, was difficult and troubled—unfortunately shaped by adverse and painful circumstances that were not always understood,” Ortega and Murillo wrote in a message of condolence.
“Despite the complexity and hardships, despite the manipulation we all know occurred, despite everything, we kept our hope alive through Christian faith,” they continued. “We understood the distance, and above all, the complicated and strained communication that prevented better relations. We also recognized the confusion caused by strident voices that disrupted any attempt at genuine interaction.”
Pope Francis had previously compared the Ortega regime to communist dictatorships and even to Hitler, a remark that further strained relations between Managua and the Holy See.
Central America
Cardinal Rodríguez to Attend Funeral of Pope Francis: “He Was Very Dear to Me”
Honduran Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez announced on Monday that he will attend the funeral services of Pope Francis, who passed away at the age of 88 at his residence in Casa Santa Marta due to a stroke.
“We will be there throughout the novena and then, God willing, at the burial,” Rodríguez said in a phone interview with HRN Radio in Tegucigalpa, apparently calling from Spain.
He added that the last time he saw Pope Francis was in October 2024, during and at the end of that year’s synod, and that they remained in contact through email. “Sometimes, the Pope would even call me,” said Rodríguez, who was born on December 29, 1942, and was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II on February 21, 2001.
Rodríguez expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Pope Francis, saying: “He was a very dear person to me.”
However, he also shared a message of hope, pointing out that the Holy Father passed away during Easter: “This is a sign. He gave his life completely like the Lord Jesus, and though he died, we believe in faith that he has risen, now with Christ in eternal life.”
Rodríguez, who for ten years coordinated the Vatican’s Council of Cardinals, was one of the eight cardinals selected by Pope Francis to help govern the Catholic Church and reform the Roman Curia.
In January 2023, upon turning 80, Rodríguez stepped down as Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and Pope Francis appointed Spanish priest José Vicente Nácher Tatay as his successor.
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