{"id":14172,"date":"2026-06-23T09:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T14:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/?p=14172"},"modified":"2026-06-22T20:40:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T01:40:43","slug":"supreme-court-upholds-suntracs-shutdown-workers-appeal-to-human-rights-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/business-economy\/supreme-court-upholds-suntracs-shutdown-workers-appeal-to-human-rights-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Upholds Suntracs Shutdown Workers Appeal to Human Rights Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice has upheld the closure of the Suntracs construction workers’ cooperative. Workers now plan to take their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The unanimous ruling came from the full court under magistrate Carlos Villalobos.<\/p>\n

The decision keeps in place the order from the Panamanian Autonomous Institute for Cooperatives (IPACOOP)<\/a>. That order forced the shutdown of the Cooperative of Multiple Services for the Sole Union of Construction Workers and Similar Trades (Suntracs). The court refused to admit a constitutional guarantees appeal filed by attorney Antonio Vargas.<\/p>\n

Vargas wanted to nullify Resolution D.E.\/A.L.\/No. 079-2025 from May 20, 2025. That IPACOOP resolution ordered the cooperative to cease all operations. The attorney argued the closure violated fundamental rights and due process for union members.<\/p>\n

\"SUNTRACS
Suntracs Protest By dblackadder – https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/39749009@N00\/445027391\/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=170718398<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Legal Arguments and Due Process Concerns<\/h2>\n

Vargas said the cooperative closure happened without justified cause. He filed both the Supreme Court appeal and a separate lawsuit before the Third Administrative Litigation Chamber. Both were rejected without examining the legality of the sanctions.<\/p>\n

“They never reviewed the merits of the case,” Vargas said. “The courts refused to look at whether the sanctions were legal at all.” [Translated from Spanish]<\/p>\n

The attorney confirmed the union has now filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)<\/a>. That body will review whether Panamanian justice acted properly in this case.<\/p>\n

Vargas argued IPACOOP skipped standard procedures. The normal process requires first intervening the cooperative then appointing a liquidator. That liquidator would recover funds for creditors and workers. Only after those steps could closure happen. Vargas said none of that occurred.<\/p>\n

\"suntracs<\/p>\n

IPACOOP Allegations and Money Laundering Concerns<\/h2>\n

IPACOOP based its closure order on alleged violations of the Panama money laundering prevention law<\/a>. The institute claimed the cooperative lacked a risk assessment matrix. It also failed to properly classify its clients according to the attorney.<\/p>\n

Audits revealed fund intermediation issues. The cooperative directed 79 percent of its credit portfolio to just five companies. Those companies all had ties to the union. Regulators found what they called irregular operational dependence.<\/p>\n

Several Suntracs leaders now face criminal investigations. Genaro Lopez, Saul Mendez, Erasmo Cerrud and Jaime Caballero are all under scrutiny. Authorities suspect them of money laundering, fraud and document forgery.<\/p>\n

Mendez remains a fugitive from justice. He and Lopez and Cerrud face money laundering charges. Prosecutors accuse them of appropriating 14 properties meant for union workers.<\/p>\n

Land Dispute and Red Frog Project Background<\/h2>\n

Those 14 properties cover 33,712 square meters or 3.37 hectares. The company Pillar Construction, later renamed Bastimentos Holding, gave them to workers. The land was compensation for 412 Red Frog project workers who went on strike.<\/p>\n

The strike lasted from February 5, 2007 to October 14, 2008. Panama’s Ministry of Labor and Labor Development declared that strike legal. Workers expected to receive the properties as part of their labor settlement.<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the appeal means the cooperative remains closed. Workers have lost access to their financial services. The IACHR complaint now represents their main hope for international review.<\/p>\n

Vargas said the case raises serious questions about due process in Panama. He noted the courts never addressed the substance of the legal violations he alleged. The international commission could pressure Panama to reopen the case or provide remedies.<\/p>\n

Union leaders maintain they followed all applicable laws. They deny the money laundering allegations. The legal battle now shifts from Panama City to Washington D.C. where theis based.<\/p>\n

\"inter
inter american court of human rights IACHR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panama’s Supreme Court of Justice has upheld the closure of the Suntracs construction workers’ cooperative. Workers now plan to take their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The unanimous ruling came from the full court under magistrate Carlos Villalobos. The decision keeps in place the order from the Panamanian Autonomous Institute for Cooperatives<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[30,31,38,29],"tags":[4953,91,804,517,4954],"class_list":["post-14172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business-economy","category-crime-safety","category-people-opinions","category-politics-government","tag-cooperative-closure","tag-panama-supreme-court","tag-panama-supreme-court-upholds","tag-suntracs","tag-suntracs-cooperative-closure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14174,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14172\/revisions\/14174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}