Last Tuesday, a man shot and killed two protesters who took part in blocking a road in a town 50 miles west of Panama City, in the third week of protests against a Canadian mining company.

These are the first fatalities after the protests that started on October 20 against the contract between the government and the company First Quantum Minerals (FQM), which operates the largest open-pit copper mine in Central America in the Panamanian Caribbean.

“The National Police arrests an older adult allegedly linked to an incident that left two people dead, registered in the Chame district,” the institution said on X, formerly Twitter.

Videos circulated on social networks showing a man getting out of a car held at the blockade and shooting at a protester at a point on the Inter-American Highway, which connects Panama with the rest of Central America.

Police also released a photo in which the detainee, wearing glasses and a gray shirt, identified as Kenneth Darlington, 77, appears to be seated and with one hand handcuffed to a pipe, apparently in a police barracks or truck.

The dead protesters were identified as Iván Rodríguez, 62, and Abdiel Díaz, of undetermined age.

Díaz died on the spot and Rodríguez in a hospital.

“They were hit by a firearm projectile, by Mr. [..]At the time, there was an argument with the demonstrators who kept the road closed using a pistol-like firearm,” police added.

The Public Prosecution Service said it had “opened investigations following a crime against life and personal integrity against two people who were at a roadblock.”

Panamanian President Laurentino Cortizo offered his condolences “to the families of the two civilians who lost their lives in an incident that occurred this Tuesday in a sector of Western Panama.”

“This is a fact that has no place in a society called to be supportive like ours,” the president added on the X Network, as several marches and vigils were organized on Wednesday against the mine and in its memory to the two victims.

A silent march was held on Wednesday through the city of Santiago de Veraguas, in western Panama, as a sign of mourning for the dead protesters.

“With the death of these two companions, we are not interested in whether they are educators (because) they are Panamanians, sons of the land who went to defend the country and died,” he said. EFE Luis Arturo Sánchez, general secretary of the Association of Veraguense Educators (AEVE), one of the most powerful unions in the education sector and which has its stronghold in Veraguas. (JO)