Panama Canal Expansion Project - Voices Against The Project

Voices Against The Project

Former President Jorge Illueca, former sub-administrator of the Panama Canal Commission Fernando Manfredo, shipping consultant Julio Manduley, and industrial entrepreneur George Richa M. say that the expansion is not necessary; they claim that the construction of a mega-port on the Pacific side would in itself be sufficient to meet probable future demand. Such a port would be the second (the first being Los Angeles) in the American Pacific deep enough to handle post-Panamax ships. As Panama is already a natural trading route, it would be able to handle the movement of containers from the Pacific to the Atlantic side via railroad, where containers would be reloaded to other ships for worldwide distribution. In addition, the following organizations and people oppose the project:

• The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) stated in a press release that under the Torrijos government, the expanding Panama Canal will not likely serve the needs of the vast majority of Panamanians. Many of the benefits will be tied to the commercial interests of the country's accountants, bankers, and lawyers, as well as their U.S. counterparts, and world trade. They also say that the administration's rampant corruption and other flaws raise questions about Panama's capacity to supervise such an enormous project. COHA has received some letters pointing out factual errors, and plans to modify its statement in response.
• Former President Guillermo Endara and his Vanguardia Moral de la Patria Party, MOLIRENA, a conservative, business-oriented party that normally gets about 10 percent of the vote
• Most of the Panamanian left and most of the labor movement, including CONUSI (National Independent Syndicate Union) and FRENADESO (the National Front for the Defence of Social and Economic Rights).
• Most members of the nationalist Panameñista Party (Grettel Villalaz de Allen and Gonzalo Menendez, mentioned above, and former legislator Gloria Young are prominent examples)
• Some environmentalist leaders and groups: Biodiversidad Panama, whose principal leader is University of Panama biologist Ariel Rodriguez, and former National Environmental Authority director Gonzalo Menendez
• Proponents of Liberation Theology, in part because they suspect that poor farmers among whom they have a social base would be adversely affected. The canal expansion issue has aggravated the breach between this mainly Catholic strain and the Catholic hierarchy. This group has chosen the radical Catholic priest Father Conrado Sanjuras as its principal spokesperson for relations with the Electoral Tribunal.