Strike Shuts Down
Panama
Morning found hundreds
of jobs paralyzed in
Panama with over 40
thousand construction
workers joining a
national strike in
protest of the murder of
workers at the doors of
two foreign enterprises.
The usual noise of
cement mixers, material
elevators, trucks and
daily activity in many
high buildings of that
capital gave way to an
absolute silence that
may let neighbors sleep
longer.
The Single Construction
Trade Union and Similar
(SUNTRACS) said that
about 750 projects of
the country are shut
down.
Monday"s burial of
Osvaldo Lorenzo and
Luiyi Arguelles became a
combative march for
justice through several
avenues up to the
cemetery.
An employee from
Brazilian enterprise
Norberto Odebrecht
(constructing
Panama-Colon freeway)
shot Lorenzo in the
chest when he was
protesting against the
dismissal of 60 workers
who were rejected for
being members of
SUNTRACS Arguelles was
shot at close-range by a
policeman and died of a
heart perforation on
Viveros Island where the
Colombian enterprise is
building a luxurious
tourist complex.
While paying last
respects to the workers,
General Secretary Genaro
Lopez said that in its
35 years of existence
the union had never been
so threatened.
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