Cultural Survival encourages children and teens to learn about Indigenous Peoples, especially how Indigenous communities organize to defend their rights and protect their lands. Sometimes, when governments and companies are not respecting their rights, Indigenous Peoples ask us to help them by writing letters. 

Now, for example, the Ngöbe Indigenous people in Panama are trying to convince their government to change a new law. This law would let foreign companies build mines, dams, hotels, and other projects on Ngöbe lands without even doing research to find out what impacts these projects could have on the Ngöbe people and their environment. One dam and several mines are already under construction, even though the Ngöbe people have been protesting against these projects. Now they think that letters from people outside Panama will help convince their government to change the law, protect the environment, and respect their rights. Please read this Youth Action Alert, do more research on your own, and then write a letter to the president of Panama’s legislature, the National Assembly. Your letter can make a difference!  
 

Imagine this: the legislature meets in the nation’s capital to pass a new law.  They call the police to surround the building and keep all citizens out. They chain the doors shut. What’s wrong with this picture? The legislators are elected by the people to make laws for the people, aren’t they? Why are they locking the people out of the capital building?   

This is not imaginary. It happened in Panama in June when the Panama legislature, the National Assembly, passed Law No. 30. The legislators had to lock the people out of the capital because they knew that Law No. 30 is not for the people. It is for big companies that want to build mines, dams, and hotels in Panama without any restrictions.  

One thing the companies want is access to Indigenous Peoples’ lands. About 300,000 Indigenous people live in Panama, divided into eight main tribes. The government recognizes their right to about 20 percent of the country’s territory.

One tribe, the Ngöbe, is spread out in small communities all the way from the Caribbean coast into the high mountains. It seems that no matter where the Ngöbe people live, some company wants their land.  

On the Caribbean coast, companies want to build hotels, marinas, golf courses, and tourist resorts on the peaceful islands where the Ngöbe people live.  Along the Changuinola River, an American company is already building a huge dam and forcing the Ngöbe people to move away from the construction site.  And up in the mountains, where the Ngöbe live  in vast tropical rainforests, mining companies want to dig enormous open pit mines and take out the copper, gold, and other valuable minerals.  

How does the new Law No. 30 affect these Ngöbe communities?  It means that if a company wants to build a hotel or a dam or a mine on Ngöbe lands, the government can give them permission to do so without first studying how these projects could pollute the air and water, destroy the tropical rainforests, harm endangered species, make people sick, and affect the traditional culture of the Ngöbe people.  Law No. 30 says the companies can build their projects without conducting “environmental impact studies.”  

Along with many other Panama citizens, Ngöbe people who live on the coast, along the rivers, and in the mountains of Panama have been protesting against Law No. 30. When they marched in the streets in July, the Panama police killed two protesters and wounded hundreds of Ngöbe men, women, and even children.  

Since the Panama government is not listening to them, the Ngöbe people hope we can get the government’s attention by writing letters.  Please think about this, do your own research, talk with your parents or teachers, and then write a letter to the president of Panama’s legislature, the National Assembly.

Indigenous Peoples Have Rights!

 Panama voted for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This declaration says Indigenous Peoples have the right to decide if mines, dams, and hotels can be built on their land.  

 

YOUTH ACTION

Protect Ngöbe People’s Lands

Panama’s new Law No. 30 lets companies build mines, dams, and hotels on Ngöbe people’s lands without conducting environmental impact studies. Ngöbe people want the National Assembly to revoke this law, and they are asking us to help. 

Please write a polite letter to the president of the National Assembly.  Tell him why you think it is important to conduct environmental impact studies before they let companies build mines, dams, and other big projects. Tell him why you care about the environment and the lands where the Ngöbe people live.  Remind him that Indigenous Peoples have rights! Ask him what he will do to be sure that companies don’t destroy  Panama’s tropical rainforests, islands, marine life, and Indigenous Peoples’ lands. 

Address:

José Salvador Munoz
Presidente de la Asamblea Nacional
Plaza 5 de Mayo
Apdo. Postal 0815-01603 Panamá
República de Panamá

Letter writing tips:


--Start your letter with this salutation:  Dear Mr. President,

--Make sure your letter is polite and respectful.

--At the end of your letter, ask the president for a reply.

--Include your name, your age, and your address on your letter. You might get a letter back from the president of the National Assembly! 

--Postage from the US is 98 cents.