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The union representing staff at Panama’s First Quantum copper mine warned Wednesday of another union’s plan to “invade” next week, the latest standoff over the now-closed mine that sparked nationwide protests last year.
The miners’ union UTRAMIPA has said it is “concerned” about plans by the Suntracs workers’ union, the country’s largest, to force its entry into the Canadian miner’s operations on Jan. 9.
In late November, First Quantum suspended advertising production at the mine and put it on care and maintenance, but the company still has equipment and personnel on site.
Suntracs, which does not represent the mine’s workers, in recent months led protests against First Quantum and backed blockades that strangled the mine’s ability to bring in supplies.
A Suntracs spokesman said Wednesday that the mine would “symbolically close” the mine on Jan. 9, in a national commemoration of the 1964 anti-American offensive. Protests for sovereignty over the Panama Canal Zone, in which more than 20 Panamanians died.
“We call on all Panamanians to come with us, to go where our sovereignty has been violated,” Suntracs union leader Saul Mendez said at a missed news conference last month.
The miners’ union said Suntracs forced its way in 2016 and 2018.
First Quantum did not respond to a request for comment on plans for the Jan. 9 protests at the mine.
Last November, Panama’s Supreme Court declared First Quantum’s lucrative contract to operate in the country unconstitutional, prompting the government to order its “permanent” closure.
In the past, the mine accounted for about 5% of Panama’s gross domestic product, but it has become a flashpoint as small anti-mining protests grew into a larger anti-government movement.
The mine’s union has appealed to the government for help for the site, recalling past incidents of violence against staff and a desire to avert environmental disaster.
Union leader Michael Camacho said he had not yet gotten a reaction from the government and that First Quantum had not issued orders for the protection of workers.
(By Valentine Hilaire, Eli Moreno and Kylie Madry; editing by Jamie Freed)