Colón - The violent repression of Sindicato Único de la Construcción y Similares (SUNTRACS: look for earlier posts on more about Panama's radical construction union) last August has continued, as a protest in Colón turned deadly yesterday, according to the country's major newspapers and the SUNTRACS website.

SUNTRACS workers were protesting for safer working conditions and higher wages in the Caribbean coast's largest (and predominantly Afro-Panamanian) city, when police fired tear gas and then live rounds into the crowd. 28-year old Airomi Smith (some newspapers report his name as Iromy Smith Rentería) was killed.* Félix de León, 24, and Donaldo Pinilla, 28, were wounded, and they will survive. More than thirty more workers were arrested, though no police were wounded.

Police then issued a warrant for the arrest of the branch leader, Eustaquio Méndez, similar to an August warrant for SUNTRACS second-in-command. Méndez went into hiding.

"These acts are miserable and we know that the government is behind this campaign of terror against Suntracs," Méndez said through a spokesman. "They have an ongoing campaign to assassinate our leaders...but this will not end here."

Police allege the shots were self-defense as protesters charged at the officer. But in SUNTRACS statements on its website, the blame is placed squarely at the central government's calculated effort to repress the union.

According to the same newspapers, the protests have continued through to today, with SUNTRACS members blocking streets around the country. They are also remembering Luiyi Argüelles and other SUNTRACS members recently martyred by police and private security.