Panama’s mass strike movement confronts Trump’s canal grab

First published in Portuguese at Revista Movimento. Translation by Adam Novak for Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières.

Panama is the sharpest point of class struggle on the continent, and how it develops and ends will be very important for the relationship between Latin America and Trump’s imperialist policy. In today’s Panama there is a new workers’ revolt: teachers have been on indefinite strike for two months, joined by construction workers, banana plantation workers [Panama is a major banana exporter, with plantations owned by international companies like Chiquita], health workers, and the strike is extending to other sectors. Students and parents support the strike and join the protests. There are road blockades promoted by indigenous peoples [particularly the Guna, Ngäbere, and other indigenous groups who make up about 12% of Panama’s population] with popular support and student mobilisations.

Even so, this great mobilisation has not transformed into a popular rebellion like the historic days of 2023, in which a workers’ and popular insurrection defeated the government and achieved the closure of the open-pit copper mine exploited by First Quantum [a Canadian mining company that operated the Cobre Panama mine, one of the world’s largest copper mines, until mass protests forced its closure]. But this could occur if the indefinite strike continues and expands, a situation that would provoke an open confrontation with the government and its possible fall. Since the return of the Canal to Panama in 1999 [when the US handed over control of the Panama Canal after nearly a century of American administration], the country has grown non-stop, but has not distributed wealth: it is the third country in the region with the greatest inequality. The interior [rural areas outside Panama City and Colón] suffers the most and that is why the largest popular insurgencies occur there.

Three policies of this government are what have set Panama ablaze again. The 40% cut in pension benefits and their privatisation; the government’s attempt to reopen the copper mine that popular mobilisation closed in 2023; the memorandums of agreement with Trump (to build three military bases in the country) as part of his offensive to regain control of the canal.

These measures mean that the government of José Raúl Mulino [Panama’s president since July 2024] is capitulating to Trump’s offensive on the country, whose final objective is to recover the canal, and that victory in the current struggle can prevent this. It is an unpopular government, discredited by corruption cases and its neoliberal policy serving the great Panamanian bourgeoisie, discredited in all popular sectors.

The importance of what is at stake in this country is highlighted by the New York Times in a recent article which warns: “A serious attempt to pressure the Panamanian government — through sanctions, tariffs or other coercive measures — could set the country ablaze. For Panama, the United States and the world, this could be the greatest risk of all.” This warning made by an imperialist newspaper should also serve to reinforce the need for international solidarity with this important struggle at the centre of the continent.

The struggle between the Panamanian people and imperialism, which is historic, has now become present. Forty per cent of US goods and a large part of world trade pass through the Panama Canal. In case of military conflict with China, a large part of the North American fleet would have to pass through there. Hence Trump’s policy of recovering the canal and reducing Chinese influence in the ports located at the canal exits [China operates the ports of Balboa and Cristóbal at either end of the canal through Hong Kong-based Hutchison Ports].

Historically, US imperialism dominated the canal. To build it, it manipulated Panama’s independence, which until the 19th century was part of Colombia [Panama gained independence from Colombia in 1903 with US backing specifically to facilitate canal construction]. From then on [1903-1999], a [10-mile wide] zone was created that separated the canal from the rest of the country, where the Yankee flag flew guarded by its armed forces, separated from the rest of the country by a fence. The struggle to recover the canal began in 1964 with the [9 January “Flag Riots”] mobilisation of students who invaded the canal to hoist the Panamanian flag [alongside the American flag]. The repression and deaths provoked popular indignation, which forced imperialism and the government to hoist the Panamanian flag.

It was a first step. The nationalist government of Colonel Omar Torrijos, [Panama’s military leader from 1968-1981] achieved in 1977 — in the context of the Central American uprising [in the 1970s-80s] — the agreement with the Carter government to begin a period that culminated with the handover of the canal to the Panamanian government in 1999 [the Torrijos-Carter Treaties]. With the diminishing influence of the United States, Chinese neo-imperialism began to invest in the construction of two large ports [at Balboa and Cristóbal] and to incorporate Panama into [China’s Belt and Road Initiative] as part of its policy for Latin America. Mulino withdrew in the face of pressure from the Trump government.

In response to popular mobilisation, the Mulino government has systematically repressed and persecuted demonstrations violently with police charges using truncheons, rubber bullets, gases and arresting activists. One of the main leaders of SUNTRACS [Sindicato Único Nacional de Trabajadores de la Construcción y Similares - the National Union of Construction Workers] is imprisoned and the secretary-general is in the Bolivian embassy awaiting a response to his request for political asylum; police invaded two union headquarters and froze the union’s bank accounts by government order, and the cooperative linked to the union was declared illegal. For now, this has not diminished mobilisation and has weakened the government, provoking discontent from bourgeois sectors who are inclined to carry forward negotiations that allow an exit.

If the strike extends to more sectors and popular mobilisation grows, there will be a resounding victory that will end the government’s measures. If this does not happen, as in every long strike, elements of wear and fatigue will emerge that can lead to negotiation with partial concessions or defeat of the movement. It is an open situation and, for this very reason, Latin American and international solidarity becomes fundamental. Trade union organisations, political parties, popular movements and revolutionaries must be in the front line of this solidarity.

Pedro Fuentes is a national leader of Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) and the Socialist Left Movement (MES) in Brazil.