These community members from Panama were detained simply for trying to feed their families in their ancestral waters around “Isla Escudo de Veraguas”.
– The government banned them from their traditional fishing grounds back in February 2025.
– After protests and negotiations, an agreement was reached to allow limited fishing for 30 days.
– Yet authorities ignored it — arresting the men and continuing what locals call police harassment instead of support.
Their communities are now in a severe food crisis, struggling with hunger after months without reliable access to fish — their main source of food and livelihood.
This while a massive industrial fish farm operates just miles away with far fewer restrictions. Indigenous stewards who have protected these waters for generations are being pushed out in the name of “conservation.”
“They need international solidarity, not handcuffs”
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