A cargo ship sails through the Panama Canal next to the entrance of the Balboa Port, in Panama City, Panama, March 13, 2025. REUTERS/Enea Lebrun/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

PANAMA CITY, July 31 (Reuters) – Communities in Panama affected by a $1.6 billion project by the Panama Canal to build a massive new water reservoir on Thursday introduced a lawsuit before the Supreme Court asking it to the declare the project unconstitutional, Coordinadora Campesina por la Vida representing farmers said.

The canal, a key global freight channel, has said the project to build a reservoir in the Rio Indio is essential to expand its operations and manage its water resources, after a recent drought in 2023 and 2024 forced it to limit transits.

“We want it to be understood that the Canal has not done things right, that the Rio Indio project be stopped and that a process of dialogue be opened,” Santander Tristan, a lawyer for the communities, said in court.

According to canal authority data, approximately 2,500 people could be impacted by the project.

The groups’ suit alleges that the project would violate the constitution in six different ways, including disregard for international human rights and environmental treaties to which the country is a signatory.

It also alleges the canal authority failed to conduct a prior consultation with the communities affected.

Florentin Chiru, vice-president of Coordinadora Campesina, a rural group which filed the suit, said that the canal authority lied when it said that 85% of the communities it polled are in agreement with the project.

“They have never asked the crucial question; gentlemen, do you want to leave your land, yes or no? So what kind of census is that,” Chiru said.

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