DEFEND THE 700 EDUCATORS SUSPENDED FROM THEIR JOBS WITHOUT PAY AND OPPOSE THE ILLEGAL DISSOLUTION OF SUNTRACS

By Carlos Ernesto Guevara Villar, Lawyer

The repressive and fascist regime of Mulino and his allies, after signing the statement (not an agreement, not a settlement, not a pact) with the teachers’ unions that led the struggle against the anti-national, misogynist, and impoverishing Law 462, has intensified its repression against the labor movement and its organizations.

For example: despite having negotiated with the teachers’ unions the end of the strike, once educators returned to their schools, they were notified of disciplinary proceedings that had been pending; proceedings that, should have been suspended as a result of the signed statement.

Nevertheless, the Minister of Education, disregarding what was agreed upon, prioritizes a supposed legality over what was negotiated. This “legality” is no such thing, as the proceedings are rigged and the alleged administrative offense (job abandonment) directly contradicts the exercise of the right to strike, which is recognized both constitutionally and internationally. In other words, it is a fundamental human right that protects every teacher and their unions.

Worse still, the dismissals of the teachers are legally absurd and based on subjective considerations. They ignore the principle of presumption of innocence and violate the constitutional guarantees of due process and strict legality, by generically accusing teachers of having caused public scandal and child mistreatment by exercising their right to strike—without providing any evidence to support such claims. These allegations appear in the same documents that order both the initiation of disciplinary proceedings and the removal from duties of each of the 700 educators under investigation.

The reasoning behind the one‑size‑fits‑all resolution model is so outrageous that, the very moment classes resumed in schools affected by the strike—such as the José Dolores Moscote Institute—students took to the streets en masse to protest the dismissals and substitutions of their teachers. This directly challenges the claim that the strike caused public scandal or harm to minors. Thus, the suspensions without pay are completely abusive and unfounded.

In response to the student protests, the Minister of Education quickly claimed that the demonstrations were orchestrated by the teachers themselves, as if the protesting students were mere robots.

But the repression of Mulino’s dictatorial, pro‑business, and pro‑U.S. government goes even further. Not only has it summarily rejected all appeals filed against these proceedings in administrative venues, but it has also actively blocked the entry of lawyers representing the educators into schools—through principals loyal to the Minister and backed by the regime’s police. Even the teachers under investigation have been barred from entering the schools to follow up on their cases.

In this same context, and as a direct consequence of how the struggle against Law 462 ended—including the mine, the Río Indio reservoirs, and the Memorandums of Understanding with the U.S. that compromise national sovereignty—the regime’s Minister of Labor has proudly announced, as if it were a 100% wage increase for all public and private sector workers, that it has filed a legal case before the labor courts seeking the dissolution of the historic and powerful organization that has long defended workers’ rights: the country’s largest union, the National Union of Construction Workers (Suntracs).

This is a tremendous and direct attack on Panama’s workers’ and popular movement and its social organizations. If carried out by Mulino, it would be a profoundly serious event. It aligns with the rhetoric Mulino spews every Thursday in his national broadcasts, where he ignorantly and contemptuously refers to communists as if they were a monolithic entity—remarks that the workers’ and popular movement has mistakenly refused to confront collectively.

This attack opens a new stage in the social and political struggle—one that can only be confronted if we urgently regroup to carry out a sober and scientific balance-sheet of what happened and formulate a new, united plan of struggle. This plan must include previous and new demands: the defense of the 700 investigated educators, opposition to the dissolution of Suntracs, legal support for those facing criminal prosecution and those detained, and the safe return to public life of those who went into self‑exile. It must also include the creation of a truth commission—or whatever name it takes—capable of documenting and listing the cases of those injured, maimed, and killed by the regime’s repression. Furthermore, it must propose progressive actions, slogans for each stage, and the necessary legal strategies to confront this repressive regime, both domestically and internationally, through appropriate institutions and international solidarity.

The struggle goes on, as the slogan says. The implementation of the adjustment plan by Mulino’s pro‑business and pro‑imperialist government will depend on the willingness to fight and regroup among social activists, anti‑imperialists, the anti‑capitalist left, and the people in general. Otherwise, as one social thinker once warned, we may find ourselves at the gates of barbarism.