Canal Authorities Investigate Contractor's Death
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Panama Canal, August 1st - During their daily rounds, two agents of the Panama National Guard found the dead bodies of five civil engineers who were studying a forest area south of the Gatun dam as part of the Canal expansion project that is to begin at the end of the current month.
Agents Ansenio Nuñez and Martín Guiza found the bodies yesterday morning, around 8:30. Both corpses were leaking a black, oily substance from their eyes. So far, the causes of death remain unknown.
Agent Nuñez, who had been a member of the Canal Area Police before the Panama government took over control of it in 1999, reported local legends of early attempts to build the Canal by the French, at the start of the decade of 1880. "20.000 people died, and 5.000 more when Americans began construction. The peasants say the Canal is cursed. They believe these deaths to be a warning from beyond the grave to stop construction of the third dam."
Malaria was a common cause of death in the region 100 years ago, but it has not proved a problem in the last few decades. Dr. Petronila Álvarez, chief medical advisor of the Canal authority, has firmly claimed that there is no evidence whatsoever of these deaths having been brought on by malaria or any other known tropical illness.
Local peasants, already weary over land expropriation and the environmental impact of a third dam being built, say they are not quite so sure. "There are many strange things in the woods," one of them went on. "They are praying that only bad things come from the construction of this new dam. I fear for my family."
When inquired, a spokesperson for the Canal authority commented only that "we are analyzing each possible cause of death and will make a statement when further information is obtained on this matter."
