Page 303 - The Rough Guide to Panama (Travel Guide)

History CONTEXTS 301
PANAMA’S INDIGENOUS POPULATION
While Panama’s national economy enjoys one of the highest growth rates in Latin America, the
distribution of wealth remains highly skewed, the poorest twenty percent living below the
poverty line, receiving less than 1.5 percent of the earnings. this includes most of Panama’s
415,000 indigenous citizens, who comprise around thirteen percent of the total population
according to the 2010 census. some have been assimilated to varying degrees into urban life;
most, though, inhabit the rural regions, with around half living in the various comarcas –
semiautonomous areas demarcated by the state over the last sixty-plus years – many without
access to clean water, health care, electricity, decent schooling or paid employment.
Panama has eight indigenous groups, the most numerous by far being the Ngäbe (180,000),
who share a vast comarca in western Panama, spanning Bocas del toro, Chiriquí and Veraguas,
with the less numerous Buglé (ten thousand). the groups are culturally similar but speak
mutually unintelligible languages. the first comarca established was Guna yala in 1953, the
result of a revolution by the Tule (or Guna) people (62,000) in 1925, which stretches out along
the coastal strip of eastern Panama to the Colombian border, incorporating more than four
hundred tiny islands. Much later, the smaller inland comarcas of Wargandi and Madugandi were
added. the Emberá (23,000) and Wounaan (seven thousand) inhabit the forests of the Darién,
though some have now migrated to the Chagres river basin nearer Panama City. Around 35
percent remain in the two comarcas; many others are scattered among around forty riverside
communities across the province. At the other end of the isthmus in Bocas del toro province,
the Naso, also known as the teribe, number just over three thousand and live around
Changuinola and along the rivers heading up into the mountains. A few kilometres north, on
the banks of the río sixaola, live the Bri-Bri (2500). the often forgotten Bokota, which number
less than a thousand, are often mistakenly considered Buglé since they speak Buglere; they live
around the Bocas–Veraguas provincial boundary in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé.
suffering the highest levels of poverty, some Ngäbe and Buglé migrate for seasonal jobs on
banana, coffee and sugar plantations to earn cash to sustain them the rest of the year. Guna,
Emberá and Wounaan women, in particular, earn an income from their fine craftwork – though
villages in remote areas more or less compete with each other for the small percentage of
visitors who venture past Panama City and the Canal.
Although the comarcas cover a fifth of Panama’s land, these territories as well as those of
indigenous communities residing outside their boundaries are under constant threat. some
lands lie within national parks and reserves, which has enabled government, generally through
MiAmbiente (and previously ANAM), to apply restrictions on traditional lifestyles in the name
of conservation, while simultaneously allowing mining or hydroelectric projects to go ahead
often with minimal or no consultation with indigenous authorities and no compensation to
those forced to move. Government and big business are not the only threats: poor cattle
farmers, colonos, desperate for fresh grazing land, have been encroaching on indigenous lands
for years, particularly in eastern Panama.
By far the most organized politically are the Guna, who have had the greatest success in
defending their rights against the state and possess three representatives at government level.
the other main indigenous groups have tended to follow the Guna model, electing a General
Congress consisting of a cacique and community representatives. Leaders from indigenous
parties have begun working together to tackle attempts to marginalize them or incorporate
them into models of development they do not espouse. in 2008, a petition listing indigenous
peoples’ grievances against the state was presented to the inter-American Commission on
Human rights (iACHr). the resulting landmark victory for the Ngäbe living along the río
Changuinola, who secured an injunction to halt the dam threatening their village – albeit only
temporarily – has been the only bright light in an otherwise bleak narrative.

2004 2009
Martín Torrijos, son of former dictator Omar Right-wing supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli
Torrijos, is elected president; plans for a becomes president after a landslide victory. Meanwhile, the
Panama Canal expansion plan are passed government ignores a landmark IACHR ruling in favour of the
with an overwhelming majority. Ngäbe, and continues working on the Río Changuinola dam.

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