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
UN Rapporteur Warns of “Deep Crisis” in Guatemala’s Judicial System
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite, said Monday that Guatemala’s judicial system is facing a “deep crisis” after evaluating the country’s institutional situation.
Speaking at a press conference in Guatemala City, the UN official explained that several factors have weakened judicial independence and placed the justice system in a “critical” situation.
Among the main problems identified were the “instrumentalization of justice,” concentration of power, and persecution of judicial officials, elements that, according to Satterthwaite, undermine the functioning of the rule of law in the country.
Satterthwaite presented these conclusions while releasing her final report on the visit she carried out in May 2025, when she spent 12 days in Guatemala assessing the performance of the judicial system.
During her stay, she met with judges, prosecutors, public defenders, lawyers, lawmakers, civil society organizations, and representatives of Indigenous communities, as well as officials from the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. These meetings took place in Guatemala City and in the departments of Quetzaltenango and Alta Verapaz.
The rapporteur also reiterated her concern about the role of the Public Ministry of Guatemala, noting that the information collected points to the existence of a policy of criminalization against justice operators.
Despite this scenario, Satterthwaite expressed confidence that Guatemala can reverse the situation, highlighting that the country’s Constitution has previously demonstrated the ability to guarantee respect for the rule of law.
She also stressed that key appointments expected in the coming months will be decisive for the future of the judicial system, including the selection of a new Constitutional Court of Guatemala, a new Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala, and a new attorney general to replace the current head of the Public Ministry, Consuelo Porras.
“The appointments scheduled for 2026 to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the Public Ministry will be decisive in determining whether the current patterns of institutional capture and impunity will be consolidated or reversed,” the rapporteur concluded.
Central America
UN Report Warns of Nicaragua’s “Transnational” Surveillance Network Targeting Dissidents
A special panel of the United Nations accused the government of Nicaragua on Tuesday of diverting public funds to finance the repression of political opposition both inside and outside the country, including through what it described as a “transnational network” of surveillance and intelligence.
The panel presented a new report to the press on the situation in the Central American nation, which has been governed since 2007 by President Daniel Ortega and his wife and vice president Rosario Murillo.
Based on dozens of interviews and extensive documentary evidence, the report states that since 2018—the year when student protests erupted and were violently suppressed—public funds have been diverted to support repression, including money originally allocated for social assistance programs and public sanitation projects.
According to the report, a “parallel structure” was created within the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front to channel resources toward security operations, pro-government armed groups, and party activities.
The investigation was carried out at the request of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Another key finding of the report concerns the existence of a surveillance and intelligence network that extends far beyond Nicaragua’s borders, allegedly used to monitor, intimidate, and target hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.
The report documents an intelligence structure involving the military, police, migration authorities, the telecommunications regulator TELCOR, diplomatic missions, and operators linked to the FSLN.
Central America
Guatemala Remains in “Restricted” Press Freedom Category, Chapultepec Index Warns
Guatemala remains in a situation of “restricted” press freedom, weighed down by what has been described as “judicial harassment” against journalists, according to the latest Chapultepec Index released by the Inter American Press Association.
The Central American nation scored 45.20 out of 100 points, placing 13th in the regional ranking, according to the report published Tuesday by the regional journalism organization.
Although Guatemala climbed four positions compared with the previous report, the document warns about what it calls “judicial terrorism”, led by the Public Ministry of Guatemala and the courts. According to the report, criminal law is being used to criminalize and silence critical voices, pushing some journalists toward self-censorship or exile.
The report also highlights that despite the pro-press rhetoric of the government of President Bernardo Arévalo, the justice system and the legislative branch exert the most negative influence on freedom of expression in the country.
The killing of journalist Ismael Alonzo González on March 21, 2025, and the disappearance of Milton René Polanco Orellana between February and May of the same year illustrate the vulnerability faced by media workers.
In addition, the organization warned about legislative initiatives such as the Cybersecurity Law of Guatemala, which could threaten freedom of expression in the digital sphere.
According to the regional press organization, the survival of independent journalism in Guatemala now depends more on civil resistance and international pressure than on the guarantees currently offered by the state.
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