(16 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rio Indio, Panama – 16 May 2025
1. Aerial of protesters in boats navigating the Rio Indio
2. Various of protesters in boats waving Panamanian flags
3. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Elias Serrano, member of "No to Reservoirs” movement:
++PARTIALLY COVERED BY SHOT 2++
"We joined forces with farmers because we don’t want these dams. We don’t want the dams. We told the Panama Canal Authority at a meeting here in Río Indio that we don’t agree to the dams."
4. Various of protesters in boats waving Panamanian flags
5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Elias Serrano, member of "No to Reservoirs” movement:
"More than 46 communities will be affected. There are other alternatives, such as the Bayano lake.”
6. Various of protesters in boats waving Panamanian flags
STORYLINE:
Dozens of boats carrying around 200 people, mostly farmers waving Panamanian flags, traveled along the country’s central Indio River on Friday to protest a planned reservoir in the Panama Canal intended to solve water shortages in the waterway that have threatened international trade flow.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) says building the reservoir is the best way to provide an additional water source for over 2 million people in Panama City and to ensure the canal operates efficiently in the coming decades.
But protesters say building the reservoir using the Indio River, in the canal’s watershed, would also force 2,000 people to be relocated from their homes because their communities would be flooded.
Other areas downstream could also be affected by reduced river flow.
74-year-old Elias Serrano, a member of the “No to Reservoirs” movement, was among the group of mostly farmers waving Panamanian flags.
He told the Associated Press they held the boat protest to show their rejection of the project and forced relocations.
"We are all from down here on the coast, and we are joining forces with the farmers because we don’t want these dams,” Serrano said.
“More than 46 communities will be affected.”
Instead, protestors suggest using the nearby Bayano Lake, located east of the capital.
Authorities dismissed that idea due to logistical, legal challenges and cost, and said that such a project would displace 200,000 people – far more than the current plan.
They said the project would also offer jobs to communities and that the resettlement plan is being developed with the community.
The canal, which needs around 189 million liters (50 million gallons) of freshwater for each ship crossing, faced severe water shortages in 2023 due to lack of rain, forcing authorities to cut crossings by 20% and delay traffic.
The proposed reservoir, which would take four years and $1.6 billion to build, could allow 12 to 13 more ship crossings per day and support new water treatment facilities being built, authorities say.
AP Video shot by Matías Delacroix
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