Panama does not at the present time suffer from a migration crisis. Panama was always a country open to migrations. Not because we are more or less sympathetic to foreigners who come looking for work. The reason must be found in social and economic factors. The investments made in the country need workers to create value (preferably low-wage manpower). During the colonial period, the Spaniards brought many workers from other American territories. In the Colombian era[1], the construction of the trans-isthmic railway and of the French Canal brought in migrants from Europe, Asia and Latin America, and especially from the Caribbean. At the same time, when the (US) Americans were building the Canal (1904-1914) there were huge migrations.

These gigantic migrations coming from around the world were not repeated in the twentieth century, not even when the third series of locks were built in this century. The explanation is very simple. The cheap labour that built the US military bases before and during the second world war was ours. They were peasants displaced from their lands who sought jobs in the Canal terminal cities. They were expelled from their lands by the big agro-industrial corporations. The majority of the ‘internal’ migrants, with their families, created the enormous improvised shantytowns (known as ‘barriadas brujas’) on the outskirts of the city of Panama. They also occupied the old barracks that had been built by Panamanian landlords for the informal workers of the Canal.

At present, Panama has four million inhabitants. Around 40 thousand are foreigners. That is to say, one per cent of the total. According to the government, there are fewer than one thousand foreigners who have requested the status of refugees. Where is the crisis? This appearance of crisis also has its explanation. Panama is one of the wealthiest countries of the region. Its rate of economic growth over the past twenty years has been extraordinary. The so-called gross domestic product (GDP) has multiplied several times over that period. The United Nations agencies regard Panama as a moderately rich country and we have been excluded from the programs of assistance created by this international organization.

So the crisis is not in the population nor in migration. The crisis is in why such a rich country has such deplorable social indicators. In almost all aspects, Panama is found at the lowest levels: in education, health, housing, employment and others. Hence we can explain the migration crisis. It is a crisis invented to distract the population – especially the popular sectors that suffer the consequences of these inequalities – that find no solution to their problems.

For example, the government says that the high cost of food products is not the result of laws that benefit the importing companies. The media do not contradict the officials. In fact, they flood us with “fake news” about foreign immigrants, their adventures and the heroic action of SENAFRONT (the National Border Service). The government also says that the collapse of the education system is not due to their carelessness, or the reassignment of resources to other unnecessary activities and the lack of a minimal plan to invest our resources. Again, they distract the attention of the Panamanian people by accusing foreigners of taking jobs from our workers.

The lack of employment in the country and the fact that 50% (one of every two) workers are informal is not a problem created by immigrants (legal or illegal). It is the result of public policies that discourage the investment of our wealth (Canal, ports, mines, land) in productive activities such as industrial and agro-industrial plants. They do not take advantage of the Chinese interest in investing in Panama and creating what they call a ‘hub’ for all of Latin America. This would create opportunities of employment and, why not, for immigrants as well.

In the United States they are applying the same tactics, trying to turn immigrants into the cause of all the evils that unemployed US families suffer, with ever worse education and health services and without housing. Trump convinced many that the problem was the Mexicans. It was necessary to close the border, build a wall and criminalize immigration. In Panama, we must put an end to policies that benefit the few and put the country on the path of integral development with a formal and productive working population.

03/10/2019

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

- Marco A. Gandásegui, Jr. is Professor of Sociology with the Universidad de Panamá and Associate Researcher with the Centro de Estudios Latinoamericanos Justo Arosemena (CELA)

http://marcogandasegui2017.blogspot.com/

www.salacela.net