Naso Tjër Di (meaning “I am from the grandmother's river") is a landlocked indigenous region of

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, located in the extreme northwest of the country, on the banks of the Teribe River and adjacent to the border between Costa Rica and Panama. The region is inhabited mainly by the Naso ethnic group, which is made up of about 5000 people. It was created on December 4, 2020 from parts of Changuinola, and has an area of , of which 1468.63 km² (91% of the territory) are protected areas of the La Amistad International Park and the Palo Seco Forest Reserve.

History

The Naso people, through their king, have been claiming in recent years the formation of an indigenous region, seeing that the other indigenous ethnic groups in Panama had their own, and also as a way to protect the cultural identity of that ethnicity. On October 25, 2018, the National Assembly of Panama approved decree 656 that created the

comarca A ''comarca'' (, , , ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain, and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, mark ...

; however, the president of Panama at that time, Juan Carlos Varela, vetoed it on December 14 of that same year, taking into account the concerns of environmental sectors that an indigenous region cannot be erected in a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

and that it could be in conflict with articles 4 and 120 of the

Constitution of Panama The Republic of Panama is governed under the Constitution of Panama of 1972 as amended in 1978, 1983, 1993, 1994, and 2004. This is Panama's fourth constitution, previous constitutions having been adopted in 1904, 1941, and 1946. The differences ...

. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama, where on November 12, 2020, it issued a ruling indicating that the decree does not conflict with the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

and also added that the Naso people are one of the seven indigenous peoples that ancestrally have inhabited Panama, giving green light to the creation of the comarca. On December 4, 2020, the then president of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, sanctioned Law 188, thus allowing the creation of the new region. In 2022, the process to draft the Organic Charter of the Naso Tjër Di Comarca began with the General Council's approval of the project to Strengthen the Indigenous Agenda of Panama (FAIP). his charter serves as a foundational document that outlines the structural components of the foundation, including its functions and guiding principles.

Administrative divisions

The capital of the comarca is the community of Sieyic, where the Naso king is settled. The comarca is made up of the special district Naso Tjër Di, and in turn is divided into three corregimientos: * Teribe * San San Drui * Bonyik

Monarchs

References

Indigenous peoples in Panama Comarcas of Panama States and territories established in 2020 2020 establishments in Panama {{Panama-geo-stub