https://newsroompanama.com/2025/07/16/we-cannot-and-should-not-lose-a-banana-plantation-job-in-bocas-del-toro-says-martinelli/

According to the president of Realizando Metas, a banana plantation job in Bocas del Toro cannot and should not be lost.  “It’s not just thousands of jobs, but the image projected after what happened with the copper mines, disputed ports, etc., combined with the gross manipulation of justice and the lack of due process,” he commented.  In this regard, he recommended that the Government allocate resources or credits wherever they come from, and for sure.  “If they don’t know how, many of us can provide them with various options on how to raise the $100 million or more that Chiquita Brand’s needs,” he added.

For Martinelli, failure to do so will be “unforgivable after 2029, with both local and international lawsuits that the current players will face, but which are avoidable and can be resolved, destroying a thriving agroindustry before it’s too late.”  Martinelli also questioned rulings of unconstitutionality or whatever, not motivated by justice, but by the current power or by fear of popular protests.  In the case of the mining law, he recalled that everything was motivated by “the nefarious and gangster-like Carrizo and Cortizo administrations, which today appear unscathed as a result of a pre-arranged political arrangement that allowed them to remove one and leave the other wondering.”  “There’s a person who boasts about controlling the judicial system. He sells himself as indispensable by controlling the entire country, via low-level judges and magistrates, who do whatever they’re told from above,” he said.  Government Minister Julio Moltó said they hope to recover at least 20% of jobs after talks with Chiquita Brands.