On 1 November 2023, Diógenes Sánchez, a member of the Panama Teacher's Association (Asociación de Profesores de Panamá (Asoprof)), was arrested by the police following his active involvement in the protests arising from the Panamanian government renewing the copper exploration concession at the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America held by Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Canada's First Quantum Minerals.

Since the beginning of the protests in October 2023, at least 30 people have been arrested and several people have been injured, including journalist and activist Aubrey Baxter, who lost an eye due to excessive use of force by the police. Abdiel Díaz and Iván Rodríguez were shot and killed on 7 November.