News

Veraguas Province A significant government infrastructure project—the Fourth Transmission Line—threatens our Ngäbe and Buglé communities in the district of Kankintú in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé and in Northern Santa Fe in Veraguas province. The proposed project, which is partly funded by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), would create a 300-kilometre electrical line along Panama’s Atlantic Coast. The Transmission line …

Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca (annexed) Defending the Tabasará River In 2006, the Panamanian government granted Generadora del Istmo (GENISA), a company owned by the prominent Honduran Kafie family, a concession to build the 28.84-megawatt Barro Blanco dam on the Tabasará River in Chiriquí, western Panama. The project was financed through loans from three development banks, including the Dutch FMO and the German …

Bocas del Toro Province Our Ngäbe communities in the province of Bocas del Toro are defending their land from non-Indigenous settlers. The islands of the Boca del Toro archipelago are a key tourist destination, and since the early 2000s, there have been many land conflicts due to the increase in tourism and resorts. On the mainland, our communities are under …

Bocas del Toro Province In 2007, Panama’s environmental authority (ANAM) approved the construction of a 223-megawatt  hydroelectric dam on the Changuinola River in Bocas del Toro province. Chan 75 (also known as Chan I), was completed in 2011 by AES Changuinola, a Panamanian subsidiary of US-based AES Corporation. Chan 75 has had a profound impact on the environment, directly affecting …