Castro, When the persecuted had a chance

I don't know if the anecdote is reliable, but it's well representative. The person told me he once asked General Torrijos how he explained that some comrades who until shortly before had the Guardia Nacional chasing after them, now figured among his close collaborators. "Fulano was a prisoner, Mengano exiled, Perencejo in hiding and now they're your aides, as if they were unknown before." The general casually gestured to the row of filing cabinets in his office and answered: "Very simple --- you see all these? They are dossiers that the previous commanders left us, of all the people they had to pursue in Panama. When I need an agronomist, an economist, somebody who knows how to do something, I look there and ask 'Where is Fulano?' because he has the qualifications to be appointed to this post."

The truth is that at the start of the 70s there were at least two diasporas among Panamanians, accumulated during various lustra: a smaller one of those who went abroad and another larger one of those who survived here as internal dissidents. This included numerous professionals, intellectuals and popular leaders, whom the governments before 1968 as well as the junta that came to power in the October coup always kept in check. Although some were very capable people, they were excluded from entering government circles. Moreover, they could be public employees, but without access to decision-making, no matter who was governing. And everyone had a file, which each commandant updated before leaving it to his successor.

Everyone knows that political repression wasn't invented in October of 1968. Police and soldiers practiced it tirelessly from the start of the Cold War and before, under the direction of diverse civilian governments and of their own volition. And given that the causes of public discontent went on growing and with them the social protests, when the men in uniform didn't suffice or wanted to maintain appearances, there were also less formal resources like "ass-kicking" and the "black berets." If there was something the Panamanian guardia knew before '68 it was this, a permanent attitude periodically updated in the Canal Zone and other latitudes. Thus the coup of that year brought nothing good to those who were always excluded: the new ruling junta fed at the table of the same aristocrats that the guardia always served, while the excluded once again rejected the meddling of the men in uniform in political life and were punished with a larger dose of repression.

When the coup happened, its authors lacked any consensus about what to offer the country. Therefore, they did what they knew how to do: put oligarchs in the government and beat down the other Panamanians, at the same time alleviating internal disputes with shares of power.

Things didn't change until a couple of years later. Inasmuch as Colonel Torrijos survived his more retrograde colleagues and expanded his relations with popular and union leaders a news project took shape, with a patriotic and social direction that would soon be elucidated. In fact, while the other colonels provoked a constant civic rejection, these relations and this project allowed Omar to gain the acceptance of large groups in society outside the barracks, which at the same time strengthened him within them.

And together with the new contacts and ideas came other novelties: this peculiar style of finding collaborators from among those who shortly before were the persecuted --- whether by referring to their respective dossiers or not --- and the rapid cessation of repressive activities. If 1969 marked the pinnacle of the old history of political persecution, in the 70s the use of this old method of power was halted. In reality, the years in which Torrijos exercised real leadership were not when the repression of dissidents reigned, but precisely when it was done away with. It didn't reappear until after the death of Omar.

Instead of repression, what characterized that decade was a generalized effort for social development and diplomatic virtuosity, which redeemed many Panamanians and was able to eliminate the Canal Zone.

Also in this section:
Castro, Omar Torrijos and repression
Greater Caribbean This Week
Fisher, Scarlet Letters
Gutman, The Democratic field
Jackson, Panama's minor political parties
Kerry, Ending special interest rule
Arango, Remarks at the start of a campaign

opinion

When the persecuted had a chance