Ambassador resigns from team negotiating “crumbs” deal with Minera

Former Panama ambassador  Marcel Salamín has resigned from the high-level team formed by the Government to renegotiate the concession held by the Minera Panama company On the Mesa de Periodistas program he said that among the reasons for his decision is that “it was glimpsed on the table that there is a pre-prepared proposal for some time that, at our request, was never placed on the table but was talked about in general terms ”.

In Salamín’s proposal “I do not leave it up to the company” to determine what portion of its income it declares as profit and from there it decides “the crumbs it can give us.”

He explained that it was argued that it was simply necessary to apply Panamanian law, that the royalty had to be raised from 2% to 5% and that it had to be recognized that the copper does not belong to the Panamanian nation but belongs to those who exploit it. It also emerged on the table that there are three foreign states that, directly or indirectly, have a stake in the stock package, either from the parent company First Quantum or from the Minera Panama subsidiary, something that is prohibited by the Panamanian Constitution. said the former ambassador.

Salamín added that the proposals he has presented at the table “break the paradigm” since there prevails that “we must be collectors of taxes and royalties.” However, in his opinion, and as with 16 other joint ventures in the country, “we are the owners of that copper” and therefore they have the same right to participate on the same terms.

The former ambassador also regretted that everything from a “negotiating team” has become “an advisory team.”

He expressed his confidence that President Cortizo, at some point, will be freed from the “powerful interests” that run through the Palacio de Las Garzas