BAD CANADIAN MINER
Chilling moment gunman kills two ENVIRONMENTAL protesters blocking road in Panama
Wed, November 8, 2023
The man opens fire at protesters - Bienvenido Velasco/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
A 77-year-old man shot dead two environmental protesters on Wednesday in an apparent outburst of rage over a roadblock in Panama.
The gunman was named in local media as Kenneth Franklin Darlington Salas. If he is convicted, Mr Salas could be sentenced to house arrest rather than being sent to jail because of his age.
The protesters, who were opposed to a controversial mining contract, had blocked the Pan-American Highway in Chame, 51 miles from the capital Panama City.
Footage posted on social media showed the motorist walking from his car, demanding the protesters get out of the road.
Initially, Mr Salas removed tyres which were obstructing the road. The protesters, according to witnesses, shouted at the man: “Are you going to kill someone?”
The gunman replied: “You want to be the first?”
He opened fire, first shooting a protester holding a flag and then a second man who went to confront him, before walking off and removing tree trunks that had been blocking the road. He was then arrested.
Local media identified the victims as Abdiel Diaz, a teacher and union activist, and Ivan Mendoza.
The deaths are the first fatalities in protests that broke out on October 20 against a contract that allows Canada-based First Quantum Minerals to operate Central America’s biggest open pit copper mine for at least another 20 years.
The man was handcuffed and detained - Bienvenido Velasco/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The site, in the jungle to the west of the capital, is considered environmentally sensitive.
In an effort to calm tempers, congress last week passed a law that imposes a moratorium on new metal mining contracts and left it up to the Supreme Court to decide on whether to allow the contract with First Quantum Minerals.
Environmentalists have welcomed this decision by lawmakers, saying indeed it is the court that should rule on whether the contract violates the constitution.
But a powerful construction union called Suntracs, teachers unions and other organisations want the contract to be annulled through a law passed by Congress, so they are continuing their protests.
Panama-America said Mr Salas was born in Colon and had been a teacher at several universities.
Mr Salas was previously arrested in 2005 after weapons – including an AK-47 and M-16 - were found in his flat. He was later acquitted after a court accepted his plea that they were merely part of a collection.
He was employed as a spokesman for Marc Harris, a Panamanian accountant who was jailed for 17 years in 2004 after being convicted of money laundering and tax evasion.
Protests against copper mine deal turn deadly in Panama
Anti-mining protests that have roiled Panama for the last two weeks turned deadly on Tuesday when a man allegedly shot and killed two demonstrators, according to police.
A chilling video posted by bystanders on X, formerly known as Twitter, showed a disheveled elderly man apparently frustrated with the logjam trying to force the protestors to remove a barrier blocking the Pan American highway about 50 miles south of the capital, before pulling out a pistol and opening fire. Panama’s National Police later said they arrested the suspected gunman at the scene of the shooting.
The unusual scene of violence is the latest flashpoint in some of the largest protests to hit the Central American nation since Panamanians flooded the streets en masse to demonstrate against the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega in the 1980s.
For weeks, tens of thousands of protestors have vented their fury at a controversial mining contract given to Minera Panama, the local subsidiary of a Canadian mining company, to extract copper, a key component in electric car batteries.
The contract allows Canada’s First Quantum Minerals to restart an open-pit copper mine surrounded by rain forest for the next 20 years, with the possibility of extending for another 20 years.
Environmentalists say the mine could contaminate drinking water and devastate tracts of the 32,000 acres the company negotiated use of, in exchange for yearly payments of $375 million.
Panama’s government has promised, however, that the mine will bring thousands of jobs in addition to the badly needed revenue. First Quantum Minerals did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the protests.
Teachers march to protest the deaths of two people during a demonstration against the government's contract with Canadian mining company First Quantum and its subsidiary Minera Panama in Panama City on November 8, 2023. - Roberto Cisneros/AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
A march against the government contract with Canadian mining company First Quantum and its subsidiary Minera Panama in Panama City on November 3, 2023. - Roberto Cisneros/AFP/Getty Images© Provided by CNN
‘Panamanians are suffering’
Opposition to the mine has united environmentalists, indigenous groups and teachers’ and construction unions who see allegations of backroom dealings between the government and the mining company as further evidence of widespread official corruption.
The protestors accuse the government of selling off the nation’s natural resources at the same moment many Panamanians have been hit with the costs of rising inflation and are feeling the impacts of climate change.
“Panamanians are suffering from lack of water, suffering from droughts, principally in the central provinces, animals that die, harvests that don’t happen,” environmental activist Martita Cornejo told CNN en EspaƱol.
“The government did not guage the opposition from Panamanian society to a mining contract.”
But former US ambassador to Panama John Feeley said while much of the outrage is real, the new contract announcement has also presented an opportunity for some groups to try to force their own concessions and win sweetheart deals from the government.
“This is the horrible thing about Panama: Even when you protest corruption, you are probably facilitating it as well,” he said.
Weeks of road blocks set up by protesters have shut down the country, preventing farmers from bringing crops to market and sequestering Panamanians in their homes. According to Panama’s association of company executives, the standstill inflicts $80 million in daily losses to local businesses. Celebrations to mark Panama’s independence from Colombia in 1903 were also widely cancelled last week.
Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo has defended the mining deal after its announcement on October 20, saying the agreement would create jobs and revenue for Panama.
The mine had provided a rare economic bright spot for Panama where tourism has been slow to recover from the pandemic and the drought has reduced traffic though the Panama Canal, which is expected to a cause a drop of revenue of $200 million in 2024.
“We made the right decision, not the easiest one,” Cortizo said. “After a difficult and complicated negotiation for more than two years, a contract was agreed in 2023 between the company Minera Panama and the Panamanian State, which guarantees much better terms and conditions for the country.”
But as the protests have dragged on, Panama’s government has offered concessions that have done little to deflate the crisis: Last week, congress passed a moratorium on all future metal mining and Cortizo called for a nationwide referendum in December on the controversial project.
In 2017, Panama’s Supreme Court declared another contract to operate the copper mine as unconstitutional, forcing the mining company and government to renegotiate the deal.
Opponents now say they are hopeful that an announcement by Panama’s Supreme Court this week that it is examining the legality of the contract could once again kill the deal.
Whatever the resolution to the crisis, it may be too late to repair the damage done to Panama’s reputation in the region as a rare bastion of political and economic stability.
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