The mayor of Arraijan is blocking a critical permit needed by the Panama Canal Authority to repair the only access road to the Cocoli Locks. Mayor Stefany Peñalba’s administration has not formally responded to the permit request filed in August 2025, stalling a project the Canal Authority calls vital for operational safety.
This impasse reached a new level on Tuesday, January 13, when Peñalba missed her second consecutive Municipal Council session. Canal Authority representatives attended that meeting to reiterate their urgent concerns about the deteriorating Bruja-Cocoli road. They warned the council that the road’s current condition poses a direct risk to Canal operations, according to officials present.
The authority first submitted its construction permit application on August 25, 2025. Despite multiple follow-ups at council meetings, the municipality has provided no official answer. Canal administrators also stated they have been unable to secure a direct meeting with Mayor Peñalba to discuss the situation, prolonging the uncertainty. A key point of contention is a municipal fee. The Arraijan mayor’s office is reportedly demanding over $17,000 in taxes, construction licenses, and other municipal charges to process the permit.
“The Panama Canal Authority maintains there is no legal basis for these payments, as the Constitution grants it fiscal exemptions,” a Canal official stated during the council session. [Translated from Spanish]
The Canal Authority considers the road rehabilitation a strategic project to ensure safety and continuity. With the mayor absent and no direct dialogue, the disagreement over fees and the withheld permit remains unresolved. This keeps a nationally important infrastructure project paralyzed.
A Pattern of Controversial Actions
This road permit dispute is not Mayor Peñalba’s first controversial act. Her administration drew significant criticism in late 2025 for ordering the demolition of a Chinese monument at the Mirador de Las Americas. The Panama Chinese Association had been requesting a meeting with the mayor for over a year to discuss restoring the monument, which commemorated more than 150 years of Chinese presence in Panama.
Those requests were ignored. The monument was ultimately demolished on December 27, 2025. Esteban Cheung, spokesperson for the Panama Chinese Association, said the mayor has continued her uncommunicative approach since the incident.
“Mayor Stefany Peñalba is true to her style, and her style is not to communicate,” Cheung said. [Translated from Spanish] He added that “it is extremely strange that, being mayor, her approach is to evade and remain silent,” making it difficult to get a clear explanation for the demolition.
This pattern of avoiding dialogue is now central to the stalled Canal road project. The Municipal Council awaits an official explanation from the mayor’s office while a key piece of Panama’s logistics infrastructure remains in limbo. The situation highlights how local permitting can impact critical national operations. For now, the road continues to deteriorate, and the Canal Authority’s safety concerns grow with each delayed week.