A 77-year-old US-Panama citizen surrendered to police after the fatal shootings.
WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO
Two environmental protesters were shot dead by an angry motorist while blocking a freeway in Panama. The assailant can be seen opening fire on the demonstrators in footage circulating online.
The shooting unfolded on Tuesday afternoon on a stretch of the Pan-American Highway some 50 miles west of Panama City, where activists had erected barricades to protest a government mining contract which had recently been granted to a Canadian firm.
In photos and videos of the deadly encounter, an elderly driver was seen confronting the demonstrators before drawing a pistol. After a brief argument, the man fired off two shots, with one victim immediately collapsing to the ground, while the other was seen clutching a wound to his shoulder. The second activist appeared to be unresponsive in additional footage, and was later confirmed dead.
🔞WARNING: DISTURBING FOOTAGE
Two people taking part in an anti-government protest in Panama were shot dead on Tuesday by an unknown assailant, authorities said, aggravating social tension that has welled up since anger over a lucrative mining contract sparked demonstrations. pic.twitter.com/l0X7BLdsOf
— War Watch (@WarWatchs) November 8, 2023
The victims were identified as Abdiel Díaz, a teacher who died at the scene, and Ivan Rodriguez, who passed away soon after reaching the hospital.
Local media has named the suspect as Kenneth Franklin Darlington Salas, a 77-year-old US-Panama citizen who was said to have a prior arrest on gun charges in 2005. The man was taken into custody by Panama’s National Police immediately after Tuesday’s shooting.
#BREAKING: Here’s the Video of an American man Gunning down a Climate Protester in Panama. pic.twitter.com/tdREtxOhwG
— HPN Network🗽 (@HPNnetwork) November 9, 2023
Heated protests have erupted across Panama in recent weeks over a mining deal awarded to a subsidiary of Canada-based First Quantum Minerals, which has been permitted to continue operating the region’s largest open-pit copper mine for another two decades. Activists say the mine is located in an environmentally sensitive area of the jungle, and have voiced fears that the company would damage the local ecosystem.
“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, adding that “The government did not gauge the opposition from Panamanian society to a mining contract.”
Panama’s government has defended the new contract, with President Laurentino Cortizo calling it “the right decision” while arguing the move would create jobs and generate some $375 million in revenue each year.
Nope, zero sympathy from me.
Sorry not sorry.
Every time these idiots pull this tactic and block traffic for hundreds of miles they put other people’s lives in danger. There have been many documented cases of people dying because their ambulances couldn’t get to hospitals in time. Frustration and rage are to be expected, especially in Panama where even BASIC social science would suggest people care more about where their next meal is coming from than about environmental crusades (see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).
If these idiots want to protest a pipeline or save a pretty French beach that I’ll never see etc, then they need to take their protests to the offices of BP or Exon or whoever the hell it is who’s raining on their parade this week. STOP HARASSING ORDINARY PEOPLE JUST TRYING TO LIVE THEIR LIVES.
Obviously not condoning murder, but the old man clearly begged and pleaded and was told to pound sand. Even when we waved a gun around they refused to stand down. The guy couldn’t take it anymore and snapped.
He’s headed for prison now, and rightly so, but how long until this happens again somewhere else? People are thoroughly fed up with this climate change/eco-warrior idiocy. Every time these numbskulls block a highway or glue themselves to a pavement or pour sauce all over a priceless painting, the resentment for them just builds and builds, especially when they gloat from behind the stoic establishment police personal who are always on hand to protect the government’s sacred cows.
Just stop oil? Nah mate, just stop protesting.
In Germany the motorists are fed-up with this as well, dragging the morons off the road.
When that tactic became outdated, the beating started.
That too has proven obsolete, but that’s OK, as now the drivers are plowing thru the insidious morons even if they have super-glued themselves to the pavement!
Quite frankly, if I had a relative in an ambulance who dies due to being delayed treatment caused by a traffic grid-lock due to these morons blocking the road, I would look to sue those individuals, and have ‘acccessory to manslaughter’ charges filed against them!
!. The shooter is an American with Panamanian Citizenship, a ‘Dual National’ who probably got fed up with this ‘Greenie Political Mindset’ in the U.S. along with the ‘Political Correctness’ and early ”Wokism’ and moved to Panama to get away from all of that.
2. A firearm is needed in Panama due to the crime rate, and wild stray dogs that have rabies.
3. Panama is owned by the Chinese, and the shipping traffic is now slowed due to the drought that has lowered the lake levels that are part ofthe Panama Canal, thus cutting GNP.
4. The infrastructure has been in decay for the last 20+ years, so the minimg contract is needed to boost the GDP.
5. It is not known if the shooter had stock or investments in the copper mine.
6. Chinese troops are transitioning Panama to enter the U.S. illegally and to take-up strike positions once inside the U.S. Border.
7. If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns. Panama is one of the few places where gun offences are not held against gun owners, as the Cartels are active and will shoot others, often in a case of mistaken identity. Clustered ‘Doomsday Survival Communities’ are regularly raided by local crioms.
8. We see a lot of ads that read ‘Retire to Panama, and enjoy the low cost of living’…you get exactly what you pay for; intermitten internet, power disruptions, flooding (when / if it rains), bad roads, and sub-standard housing, along with criminal cartels that extort $ from just about every business that still operates.
Even Mexico, which is already dangerous in the northwest part of that country, is dangerous now and will become uninhabitable to the Yanks that retire there when the Cartels rise-up and kill everyone living in clustered American Communities…
Just ask Mitt Romney about what has happened to his Mormon family members who moved to Mexico years ago to practice polygamy…!
Better off outside government buildings I would have thought, if you want to protest. It has nothing to do with ordinary motorists. That said, does not justify what happened.
I’ve heard of these so-called “climate change protesters” in many countries blocking roads and then ambulances on an emergency cannot get to the patient or hospital in time, and the patient dies.
I do not know why they are not charged with contributing to the death of the patient. Surely, blocking an emergency vehicle is a crime in itself even if nobody is hurt. In most countries, if you are at a red light and an emergency vehicle is behind you with its lights flashing, then you are allowed to go through and pull over to let the vehicle through. That is how serious the situation is regarded.
Criminally charge them for blocking roads.
Financially charge them for damages to any artwork or any other structure.
If they do not like the use of oil then perhaps, they should do something useful and invent a free energy device or clean energy device. Do something positive for humanity, rather than the negative that they do.