Panama: Interview with Luis Arturo Sánchez, national leader of the AEVE teachers union

Por Mariano Rosa

“We managed to become a social pole because of all the popular demands.”

During the July and part of August, Panama was the scene of enormous working class, popular and indigenous community protests. After weeks of demonstrations, strikes, roadblocks and confrontation with repression, the mobilized people managed to force the government of President Cortizo into a unified negotiating table. We talked about this scenario and the situation with Professor Luis Arturo Sánchez, general secretary of AEVE (Association of Educators of Veragüenses) and leader of the ANADEPO (National Alliance for the Rights of the Organized People).

Mariano Rosa: Luis, tell us first about AEVE, your union.

Luis Sánchez: First of all, thanks for the space to spread our struggle. AEVE is the largest teachers’ union in Panama. We have more than 8,000 members. Of course we begin sectoral claims, from educators, but we also address social problems more as a whole. We care about the situation our people are in and there is a fundamental fact for everyone to know about the “miracle” of Panama: despite growing its GDP for years at surprising rates, that growth did not “spill” over to the workers and the people in general. To give you an idea of ​​what we are talking about, school dropouts in our country are around 130,000 per year. It is a huge figure considering the size of Panama. This reality worries us as educators and as a teaching organization committed to our people.

MR: And about the protests in Panama, what can you tell us as a first assessment more than a month after it began?

Luis Sánchez: At the end of May, we made a strong warning to the Cortizo government: inflation, the cost of living, could no longer be tolerated. Given the lack of answers, on July 1, we called a 48-hour strike that was a major success. From there, with the initiative of AEVE, we managed to bring together a coordination that went from minor to major, becoming a true social pole for all the popular demands: ANADEPO, the National Alliance for the Rights of the Organized People. With two more teachers unions, fishing workers, carriers. In short: we built a list of demands against the inflation of the Basic Family Basket, against the increase in fuel and medicines. And of course, in addition, we put the structural debate of corruption on the agenda: a lot of money comes in as a royalty from the Canal and none of what happens to it is clear.

MR: We learned from what we could follow of the struggle movement that Cortizo first tried to divide and then intimidate with repression. How did you deal with that, Luis Arturo?

Luis Sánchez: The government first tried to set up three parallel negotiating tables to divide the labor and popular movement. We did not allow it, and we imposed a unified negotiation. That was important: to break that maneuver. Later, the government repressed protests, with the aim of intimidating and causing the movement to withdraw: not only did it fail, but it also generated the opposite effect, since it encouraged the growth of protests and greater social support.

MR: What does the agreement that was signed include?

Luis Sánchez: Discounts on 72 mass consumption products, a reduction in the price of fuel, price caps on about 170 medications, and that pharmaceutical companies, we are talking about small businesses, will be able to buy directly abroad. In Education there has always been an under budget; with the support of the people, it was possible to progressively increase the 6% of GDP allocated to this ministry. It was an important step forward, although the signed agreements have not yet been fulfilled, so I predict a new conflict.

MR: Right, first divide, then repress and now try to wear down. This is Cortizo’s orientation, right?

Luis Sánchez: And the delaying, add that too. But he is mistaken, because the people emerged strengthened from the process of struggle and are shooting for more, with confidence in the organizations that lead the struggle.

MR: We also read in an interview that you raised the need to end privatization in energy and the defense of Social Security. Can you explain that?

Luis Sánchez: Yes, of course. It is absurd that energy, which is a social right and should be a public service, is a business monopolized by private companies. The way out is to nationalize, nationalize and recover for the people those levers of the economy. And the Social Security Fund, which is a heritage built with the contributions of workers, is always threatened by the clutches of private capital and the governments of the day. We are going to paralyze the country if necessary, to effectively defend that workers’ conquest.

MR: Luis Arturo, you know that the ISL is an international organization that is committed to building new political tools for the working class, the youth and the peoples, so that those from below reach power. What do you have to say as a final message from that definition?

Luis Sánchez: I am convinced, from what I see in Panama, but also from the winds blowing in Latin America, that traditional parties must be eliminated. They have failed, they govern for the rich and it is time for a change from below based on the people and the workers. That is our bet and hopefully Panama causes a “contagion” effect throughout Central America.