“Without struggle, there is no victory”: Why the Panamanian people are standing up to their government and the US

Panamanian workers have been on strike for over a month against the policies of the José Raúl Mulino government.

June 04, 2025 by Pablo Meriguet
panama workers strike
Workers from SUNTRACS participating in the National Strike. Photo: SUNTRACS

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For several weeks now, across Panama, unionized workers, students, Indigenous communities, teachers, health professionals, agricultural workers, and others have been on strike against the neoliberal policies of the right-wing government of José Raúl Mulino.

The Panamanian workers have remained in the streets, demanding the government and the establishment listen to their demands, braving persecution, stigmatization, attacks in the mainstream media, violent police repression, and other obstacles.

To understand what drove so many sectors of society out into the streets of Panama and how they have withstood violent and fierce repression, Peoples Dispatch spoke with Rolando “Fulo” Ortíz, sub-national coordinator of the National Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights (FRENADESO). FRENADESO is made up of various social organizations and is helping lead the struggle against the Mulino government.

Peoples Dispatch: Why are the Panamanian workers on strike? What are they demanding?

Rolando Ortíz: The Panamanian people have been confronting neoliberal policies since they were implemented [for the first time] 40 years ago, and all of the governments since we became a Republic, including the government of José Raúl Mulino, who is about to complete 11 months in office. Mulino is a political figure of the ultra-right, of capitalist neoliberalism. When he was younger, in 1989, he was one of the political figures that mobilized sectors of the oligarchy to call for the US invasion of Panama on December 20, 1989. Mulino served as deputy secretary of foreign affairs, secretary of security in different governments, and today, president. He is an employee of the traditional oligarchy of the country, of the most rancid.

His candidacy was accepted two or three days before last year’s elections, meaning he has no real political strength and was appointed by the economic business powers, by the ultra-right. That is why we emphasize this context in our current struggle against the imposition of these neo-liberal capitalist measures, such as the imposition of the reform of the Social Security Fund Law, also called Law 462.

This law, which stealthily increases the retirement age, also increases the amount workers contribute in order to obtain a pension close to the economic and social reality of the country. It also gives billions of dollars to the private banks to continue speculating and fattening their coffers to the detriment of the Panamanian people. We made a decision, and we went out to fight for the repeal of Law 462 and also for the immediate annulment of the memorandum of understanding with the United States Army and the government of José Raúl Mulino.

In addition, we are fighting against the potential reopening of the mining project that was declared unconstitutional in 2023, since it violated 25 articles of the Constitution, devastated the environment, and plundered our mineral resources. The company, First Quantum Minerals has a contract here with the project Cobre Panamá, to extract an unknown amount of minerals.

We are also fighting for freedom of association, a struggle that we are engaged in due to the violations that are taking place currently. Specific cases include those of the construction workers, comrades of the National Union of Workers of Construction and Similar Industries (SUNTRACS), who have been severely persecuted, repressed, criminalized, and prosecuted. [Including] comrade Jaime Caballero, one of the main leaders of the union, SUNTRACS, and comrade Genaro López, a historic leader of the union. They are unjustly imprisoned at this time, due to false accusations of money laundering, which we know are part of the hoax to minimize the popular movement.

Banner with the images of trade union leaders of SUNTRACS who are being persecuted. Photo: SUNTRACS

The general secretary of SUNTRACS, Saúl Méndez, is also requesting political asylum in the Bolivian Embassy. He is currently under protection in that embassy. SUNTRACS’ bank accounts have been closed for a year now. Thus, the government has violated the agreements signed by the Panamanian State, such as Convention 89-97 of the International Labor Organization. This is just one of many struggles. In addition, the high cost of living.

Read more: Repression of Panama’s national strike drives workers from more sectors into the streets

PD: The protest has lasted several weeks; how much longer do you plan to continue the struggle?

RO: As long as Law 462 is not repealed and they refuse to create a truly democratic dialogue space, with equal conditions in which the sectors that contribute to the Social Security Fund participate.

As long as the memorandum of understanding between the Government of José Raúl Mulino and the US Army is not definitively annulled.

As long as the mining project is not definitively closed.

As long as the accounts of the unions are not reopened and the opportunity is not given to the trade union centers to access the Educational Insurance Fund.

As long as the persecution, repression, and criminalization of the different trade union leaders continue.

As long as all of these things do not happen, the Panamanian people will remain in struggle.

The strike continues with different actions, such as an indefinite strike of the teachers’ sector, workers’ sector, and banana sector in a province bordering Costa Rica called Bocas del Toro, one of the strongest in the struggle. And besides that, the mobilization and the protests in each sector are being maintained. How long the protest will last depends on the government. Some sectors have declared that they will remain firm after more than a month of indefinite strike and concrete actions. The government must demonstrate an attitude towards real dialogue, as we say, in a truly democratic manner, on equal terms.

We must add a demand: that a project for the creation of water reservoirs to generate more water for the Panama Canal be dismissed, even though the Panama Canal is in the hands of the sectors of the bourgeois oligarchic faction, which they control, taking the resources of the canal. Approximately 2 billion is indeed delivered each year to repair what the economic benefits generate, but it is not enough. The remaining money is left in the hands of the oligarchy that owns the country’s resources.

Read more: “With our dignity high, no repression can stop us,” say Panamanian workers

So, the struggle remains strong. Perhaps the strike could last a couple of weeks longer. The government is showing signs of generating a kind of dialogue. But the popular organizations and their members are firm.

PD: The Mulino government has given no signs of giving in to the demands, but has also gone on the counter-offensive. What are the main measures it has taken to break up the strike?

RO: In the first instance, repression, persecution, criminalization, prosecution of social leaders, as we have said, but not only those of the industry and construction sector, but there are also young students criminalized with arrest warrants, with processes in the Attorney General’s Office. We have some educators who cannot leave the country; there are more than 83 workers of the Construction Workers Union, who are in that situation.

Besides that, the other maneuver they are using is to try to divide the movement, making it appear that the workers of the banana company, there in the province of Bocas del Toro, want to agree to a dialogue. Dialogue has taken place, but they have not reached the central objective of all the people, which is the repeal of Law 652. In the case of the University of Panama, one of the main state universities, they have coerced the authorities to take people to a judicial process and those whom they identify as aggressors to the law.

Read more: Panamanian workers’ strike for rights and sovereignty expands to new sectors

According to them, the country is in an atmosphere of tranquility when in reality the country is mobilizing, the people and the organizations have remained firm, as we have said. They also use their traditional corporate media, the big traditional media, which are controlled by them, to try to show an atmosphere of tranquility and claim that those who are protesting are radicals.

PD: What is the future of the strike, and which way does it look like the balance will tip, in favor of the government or in favor of the protesters?

RO: At the moment, the strike is firm and nationwide. Although there are sectors that are carrying on, they are not the sector that defines things: tourism, banking, etc. In terms of productivity for the country, they do not have a significant weight. Which way is the balance leaning? We can say that it is balanced now. On the one hand, there is a stubborn government, which does not want to dialogue, which wants to divide, which seeks to continue criminalizing the demonstrators, which does not listen to the sectors that are protesting but looks for alternative sectors to generate a false scenario of dialogue.

So the equation is pretty balanced at this moment, but significantly, the social movements have been strengthened. There are health sectors, doctors, nurses, specialists, and health technicians who are also saying that Law 462 must be repealed, and that the memorandum of understanding must be annulled. They have been joining the struggle, at their own pace, and that is important.

Also, the native peoples. Eight native peoples live in Panama. The National Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Peoples of Panama has also declared its full support for the actions of the popular movement. More and more forces are joining. This means that the balance is tipping in favor of the demonstrators since there is generalized discontent.

Last week, the Secretary of Commerce and Industry declared that there is going to be a process of, according to them, maintenance of the mining project. The same project against which we fought in 2023, and which was canceled for being unconstitutional. By affirming this, the Secretary of Commerce and Industry gives another reason for the struggle to strengthen, since nobody told them as a government to give this space to the same company that violated 25 articles of the Constitution through a mining contract signed with the previous government. So, the struggle is strengthened.

Read more: Indefinite national strike continues in Panama, defying arrests and repression

PD: What is your general analysis of the situation in the country concerning US influence on the government?

RO: As we have said in previous questions, Mr. José Raúl Mulino, today president of Panama, comes from a pro-United States background… He was one of those who were actively advocating for what unfortunately ended up happening on December 20, 1989, the Invasion of Panama. We are still counting the dead. Furthermore, as deputy secretary of state, once the invasion took place, he was willing to continue signing agreements with the US government, and that has been part of his life. He talks about a Panamanian business government, but it is directed by the economic policies of the United States government.

This is also observed when, once he wins the presidency, he meets, before assuming the presidency, with the then-head of the Southern Command, Laura Richardson, and with the US ambassador in Panama, Mary Carmen Aponte. The elections in the United States were not even over, and Mulino was already talking about linking himself more directly with the government of Donald Trump. When Trump said what he said regarding the Panama Canal, the alleged interference of the Chinese Communist Party, and the Chinese government, Mulino was already breaking the agreement with China called the Belt and Road Initiative.

Mulino also has interests in shipping companies and ports, because he is a maritime lawyer. We can also understand that his attitude is one of surrender and that obviously, there is a lot of his cabinet that is part of this dynamic of surrender. The Secretary of Defense of the United States has arrived in Panama, and it has been as if the governors of Panama were coming to visit him. Every time he talked about relations with the United States, he spoke in a soft, calm manner.

At the same time, he talks about the social struggle, about the Panamanian movement, and he also rants and insults the demonstrators. That also shows his attitude. And yes, in the face of the Trump administration’s lie that the Chinese Army, the Communist Party of China, and the Chinese government influence Panama, Mulino broke the agreements. In addition, he immediately projected the negotiation of the ports here in Panama, where the main port of the country would be handed over to BlackRock.

We also saw this when the memorandum of understanding signed with the US Army which allows US Army troops to be in the country. Only a couple of weeks have passed since the signing of the memorandum of understanding, and we already see US troops openly in communal, social localities, where there should not be units of the US Army disguised as social guides, health, or delivery of medicines. But we know what it means to have the US Army in our territory if there is a government that surrenders, a government that has ceded the homeland.

This is why we are fighting not only against a fascist sell-out government that belongs to the sectors of the oligarchy but also against the government of the United States of America.

Finally, we would like to ask for everyone’s solidarity. Panama is fighting for its sovereignty and its human rights. But we must also understand that Panama is central to the geopolitics of the US government, which is against the interests of the peoples of Latin America. Solidarity can be expressed in various ways. With videos, communiqués, with messages of encouragement to our fighters, spreading the word about what is happening in Panama. The struggle will continue. We are not going to give up. This is not an individual struggle, it belongs to all of us. Without struggle, there is no victory. We must stop the arrogant, repressive, and surrendering attitude of the government of José Raúl Mulino.

panama massive march
Mass march as part of Panama’s national strike. Photo: SUNTRACS