Away from its busy capital city and famous canal, Panama is one of the world’s most ecologically diverse nations.
Yet huge new hydroelectric dam projects now underway are seeing pristine rivers damned and virgin rainforest flooded.
The government says it is vital for economic growth, big business is cashing in and even the UN has awarded carbon credits on the basis that
the resultant energy will be ‘sustainably’ produced.
But for the indigenous Ngabe people – whose homes are vanishing under water – it is a catastrophe. So they have been fighting back. Filmmaker Glenn Elis went to Panama for People & Power to find out more.
Last February, the most famous Panamanian in the world went for a routine medical check-up. The authorities used a decoy, and General Noriega, the country’s former military governor, was spirited back to his luxury detention centre, safe from prying eyes and a hungry press. Nonetheless, acres of news print around the world were lavished on the event, while a far more urgent unravelling Panamanian story dropped under the radar.
Panama’s largest indigenous group, the Ngabe, had decided to ta
ke a stand against the unlawful encroachment of their homeland. Since the time of the conquistadors, the Ngabe have been pushed to the margins of the country – forced to live on the land that no one else wanted. Twenty years ago the Panamanian government finally ceded what was considered a useless tract of land to them. The Ngabe had in fact lived there for centuries, so by rights it has always been theirs.
Watch the Film HERE..Panama: Village of the damned – People & Power – Al Jazeera English.
But now this land, rich in mineral deposits and rivers, is considered priceless. And Ricardo Martinelli, Panama’s authoritarian president who is a close friend of former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, wants it back.
His plan is to open the Ngabe heartland to foreign mining companies and push hydroelectric power projects onto an unwilling population. The problem is that the Ngabe have nowhere else to go. So the scene was set for a dramatic showdown, which started when the Ngabe closed the Pan-American Highway in Chiriquí province in the west of the country – bringing Panama to a standstill.
Their demand: an audience with the president. Martinelli’s response was extraordinary for this relatively peaceful country with a constitution that forbids the formation of an army. The police, who human rights observers say have become increasingly militarised since Martinelli became 
president three years ago, launched a vicious crackdown, cutting communications with the outside world, and allegedly shooting innocent bystanders as well as peaceful protesters.
Harrowing reports surfaced of rapes and the mistreatment of detainees, as scores of Ngabe men, women and children were arrested. At least two people were killed and many more were injured. The crackdown lasted for three days and proved so unpopular with Panamanians, that Martinelli was forced into negotiations with the Ngabe.
In a previous statement, M10 issued several demands concerning the Barro Blanco dam. In summary, They are urging the government and GENISA to immediately cease the work. They are asking GENISA to cancel their project. They are asking various international financial institutions like the FMO Bank in the Netherlands and the DEG Bank in Germany to stop funding the project, because it violates “all principles of human rights and of free, prior and informed consent, and is also a violation of international rules and precepts governing indigenous peoples such as Article 169 of the ILO (currently under ratification) and international conventions to which the Republic of Panama is a signatory.” They are asking the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) not to certify any emissions reduction credits (carbon credits) to such a project, because it violates Universal Human Rights and the Environment. They are requesting administrative authorities in Panama to work together to secure for the indigenous people and humble farmers along the Rio Tabasara their livelihoods and the natural resources on which they depend, which, M10 states, “is the reason for our dignified defense of our most precious Rio Tabasara”
Opening fire
The talks were taking place at the National Assembly building in the centre of Panama City and dozens of Ngabe families had set up camp nearby to show support for Silvia Carerra, their elected leader who is known as the Casica.
It was here that my crew and I set up our camera on my first day in Panama to interview some of the people who had travelled hundreds of miles to make their point. We had just started to interview a young woman and child when gun shots rang through the air. The police had opened fire at the demonstrators. There were several shotgun injuries, none serious, but nasty all the same. It seemed inexplicable. Why fire into a crowd filled with women and children, particularly at a time when their leader was negotiating with the government?It is possible that the government was never that keen to talk to the Ngabe in the first place and that this was an attempt to provoke a reaction which would force the cancellation of the talks. If that was the plan, it did not work. The Casica had no intention of letting the government set the agenda and the talks continued.But as I flicked through the channels in my hotel room later that night I was given an insight into the less than perfect relationship between the government and the media here. Panamanian TV media carried the police's version of events - that drunken Ngabe youths had gone on the rampage. It was a story that I knew for a fact was far from the truth.
A piece of paradise
The next day one of the so-called ‘drunkards’, a teetotaller by the name of Ricardo, invited us to his village. It was a six-hour drive from Panama City followed by a gruelling trek through mountain jungle. But nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of Kia – a settlement nestling on the banks of the Tabasara River. Here the Ngabe have carved out a little piece of paradise for themselves, and I saw at once why they are fighting so hard to protect it. There is an open air school where children are taught in the N
gabe language, which is vital if their unique culture is to survive. And I enjoyed a continuous stream of hospitality as we talked into the early hours under a night sky unblemished by light pollution. The following morning Ricardo gave us a guided tour of the village, explaining the close bond between his people and nature.
I was taken a short distance to the riverbank where a little girl showed us a colony of Tabasara Rain Frogs, one of the rarest species in the world, which are found nowhere else on the planet. If the government has its way, all this will be flooded and the frogs will disappear. Yet a few miles downstream from Kia, the massive construction site of Barro Blanco is an ugly blot on the landscape. As the enormous dam takes shapes, armed guards patrol the perimeter to keep the villagers away. When the dam is complete the village of Kia will be lost. From Kia I travelled northwest to visit Ngabe villagers who had already lost their community. They had been made homeless by another hydroelectric project last year, when the mighty Changuinola River was dammed.
Here I met Carolina. Her house had been built on higher ground than those of her neighbours in the village of Guiyaboa, but it was still not high enough. The village now lies deep underwater and all that can be seen is the roof of Carolina’s house, jutting out of the water like some incongruous monument. She told me that she and countless others had received no compensation for loss of their land, crops or housing. I travelled on through Chiriqui province, the scene of the crackdown, and met and interviewed survivors and the relatives of those w
ho had been killed by the police. I found it hard to understand why they had died. All the Ngabe had been asking for was an opportunity to talk to the government – a concession that the authorities had to make in the end anyway.
It is not surprising that, away from the glitzy skyscrapers of the capital, a terrible sense of injustice and resentment is simmering below the surface. A roll call of Panama’s wealthy Back in Panama City, Jorge Ricardo Fabrega, the country’s powerful minister of government, agreed to meet me and explain the government’s side. He admitted that things could have been handled better at Changuinola, but insisted that during the recent crackdowns the police had behaved very professionally. He was keen to underline the importance of hydroelectric energy for Panama’s booming economy and then stated categorically that nothing would be allowed to stop the Barro Blanco project going ahead. “There’s one thing that I have to make clear,” he said. “We’re not going to cancel Barro Blanco. The Barro Blanco project is under construction and it will continue.” As I listened I thought of Ricardo and the other villagers whose future was being decided by the minister and his friends.
By now news had got around that a filmmaker from Al Jazeera was in the country and someone discreetly passed me a lengthy document detailing the government’s future hydroelectric plans. It was an eye-opener. The sheer number of the 
projects is startling; if they all go ahead they will surely produce far more electricity than Panama will ever need, no matter how dynamic or fast growing its economy. Which begs the obvious question: What will they do with all this power?
Alongside each project listed were the names of the company directors involved – a roll call of Panama’s wealthiest families. It was not difficult to put two and two together. Electricity is a commodity like anything else and if there is spare capacity it can be sold to energy-hungry consumers in neighbouring countries. Someone, it seemed, was going to get very rich. Unsurprisingly, that document has never been made public.
It was then I realised what Silvia Carerra, the Casica, was up against in her negotiations with the government. And on my last evening in Panama, I was lucky enough to meet her. Despite having been up since sunrise debating with other Ngabe leaders, she found time for an interview. A charismatic 41-year-old, with little in the way of a formal education, she has found herself locked in negotiations with the minister I had just met. This remarkable woman is all that stands between her 100,000 kinsmen and development projects they neither want nor need. It must be a terrible responsibility. I found her candour and determination refreshing. She told me that even after all the governme
nt had done the Ngabe would never give in. But in the meantime, of course, work at Barro Blanco and elsewhere goes on.
Proyecto hidroeléctrico obstaculiza conversaciones de paz en Panamá
Rana de Lluvia del Tabasará en peligro de extinción
Bruselas / Ciudad de Panamá, 16 de marzo de 2012. El controvertido proyecto hidroeléctrico Barro Blanco, aprobado en virtud del régimen de compensación de las Naciones Unidas, sigue obstaculizando las negociaciones de paz entre el gobierno panameño y los pueblos indígenas Ngöbe-Buglé sobre la minería y proyectos hidroeléctricos en territorios indígenas. Grupos ecologistas de todo el mundo piden la retirada de la concesión de Barro Blanco y la suspensión del régimen de compensación de carbono. Hacen también un llamamiento a bancos y empresas para que congelen de inmediato su apoyo al proyecto.
Los recientes enfrentamientos violentos entre la policía y manifestantes indígenas contra los planes del gobierno de una gran mina de cobre e hidroeléctricas en su territorio, dejaron al menos dos muertos y más de un centenar de heridos y detenidos. Los Ngöbe-Buglé, el grupo indígena más grande de Panamá, exige la protección de sus derechos y recursos a través de una ley que prohíbe los proyectos mineros e hidroeléctricos que afectan sus territorios, reconocidos legalmente por el Gobierno de Panamá como propiedad colectiva. Ellos exigen que todas las concesiones que se otorgaron sin su aprobación, incluyendo el polémico proyecto hidroeléctrico Barro Blanco sean canceladas.
Barro Blanco es un proyecto hidroeléctrico de 28,84 MW en el río Tabasará. Fue aprobado bajo el esquema de compensación de carbono de la ONU o Mecanismo de Desarrollo Limpio MDL en junio de 2011, pese a las preocupaciones sobre la exactitud de la evaluación de impacto ambiental y los requerimientos de los actores locales. El proyecto está siendo financiado por los bancos europeos de Alemania (DEG) y los Países Bajos (FMO) y el Banco Centroamericano de integración Económica. El embalse de agua de la presa inundaría tierras de la Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé – una reserva semi-autónoma perteneciente y administrada por indígenas Ngöbe y Bugle de Panamá. Más de media docena de comunidades a lo largo de las riberas del río serán inundadas y los medios de subsistencia de unos 5.000 agricultores que dependen del agua potable del río para la agricultura y la pesca se verán negativamente afectados y de manera irrevocable. Sin embargo, la empresa GENISA responsable del proyecto ha hecho públicamente declaraciones engañosas que el área inundada será menor de lo que realmente es y no afectara a las comunidades indígenas.
La ONU debe garantizar una revisión imparcial
Debido a la escalada de los enfrentamientos entre las comunidades y el gobierno, las Naciones Unidas están facilitando estos días conversaciones de paz. El bloqueo fue levantado por un acuerdo para llevar a cabo una revisión de la Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental EIA del proyecto.
“Aunque lo exige la ley, Barro Blanco no llevó a cabo una segunda evaluación de impacto ambiental después de haber aumentado la capacidad inicialmente prevista desde 19 hasta 28 MW. El aumento de tamaño hace que la inundación adicional de 25 hectáreas y el impacto de las tierras de la Comarca Ngöbe-B
uglé,” dijo Oscar Sogandares de la organización ambientalista Asociación Ambientalista de Chiriquí. “La evaluación del impacto ambiental tampoco menciona los impactos de la represa sobre la biodiversidad de la exuberante selva tropical y la vida silvestre en el valle del Tabasará. Varias especies endémicas se enfrentan a la extinción si la represa se construye.”
“Los derechos de los Ngöbe-Buglé están consagrados en la Constitución de Panamá y se deben respetar por todos los proyectos que afecten su territorio, incluyendo el proyecto Barro Blanco. Hacemos un llamamiento a todos los bancos y las empresas que participan en este proyecto para suspender su apoyo”, comentó Guadalupe Rodríguez de Salva la Selva.
En una superficie de apenas 75.000 km2 Panamá cuenta con 30 proyectos hidroeléctricos MDL con una capacidad instalada de 1804 MW en tramitación del régimen de compensación de la ONU. “Si los proyectos de compensación de carbono violan los derechos consagrados de los pueblos indígenas, la Convención tiene que actuar y restablecer la confianza en la ONU”, comentó Eva Filzmoser de CDM Watch (Vigilancia del MDL). ”Hacemos un llamado a la CMNUCC y a la autoridad nacional ANAM para asegurarse de que la evaluación de impacto ambiental del proyecto Barro Blanco sea estudiado a fondo y la aprobación sea retirado posteriormente.”
Related articles
- Panama: Village of the damned – One indigenous tribe is engaged in a life and death struggle against the big business interests flooding their land. (worldwright.wordpress.com)
- Panama’s village leader Silvia Carrera defies a president (guardian.co.uk)
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