"Farming communities from Panama’s Indio River basin have voiced strong opposition to a proposed reservoir promoted by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), accusing the project of serving strategic interests linked to the United States rather than local communities. Footage captured on Sunday shows farmers travelling by boat along the Indio River to attend an assembly organised by the 'Peasant Coordinator for Life against the Reservoir'. Protest banners reading 'Indio River is not for sale' and 'We fight together, or they will finish us separately' were seen at the gathering. Residents say they have received insufficient information about the project and complain that no prior consultation has taken place, warning that the reservoir would result in displacement without clear guarantees of compensation. “They are telling us everything verbally, and there are no documents where the government has said, 'We signed this, and we agree to comply with this,'” said Marisel Sanchez, a farmer from the Indio River basin. “Those documents do not exist. So they are simply proposing ideas, creating images without facts.” The Indio River Multipurpose Reservoir is intended to secure long-term water supplies for the Panama Canal, a vital artery for global trade and a project of strategic importance to Washington. Human rights lawyer Santander Tristan, who advises the protest movement, framed the opposition as a broader rights issue. “This is a clear social protest by farmers, who are rising day by day to point out that the Indio River project is a project that violates their human rights, including the right to land, the water right, the right to the environment, to a healthy environment and fundamentally also the right to information and public participation,” he said. Tensions escalated on April 5, when residents staged a peaceful protest to block ACP personnel from entering the area. Following the demonstration, community leader German Acosta was sued by the canal authority, which accuses him of damaging a vehicle and is seeking 5,000 balboas (around $5,000) in compensation. The dispute has been further inflamed by reports of US pressure to involve the United States Army Corps of Engineers as an adviser to the project, rekindling concerns over external interference and raising renewed questions about Panamanian sovereignty."