opinion

Martín the militarist
by Miguel Antonio Bernal

The designation of a soldier to head the police is a crime. And in the face of this crime committed by Martín, the militarist, there is only one thing that's permitted to us: to submit to the crime.

Said appointment turns the president and his minister of government and justice into criminals, because they have violated the constitution and laws. Also, because they have violated and mocked the confidence and intelligence of the Panamanian people, who know perfectly well that there is no worse illegality than that which poses as legality.

Some months ago I stated in my column that "By formation, and by deformation, the proclivities of President Martín Torrijos are part, not only of his own personality, but also of the policy of his government. Thus, since his ascent to power on September 1, 2004, the consolidation of several of the actions and practices of militarism haven't ceased to increase. Nor has there been any stop to the increase in appointments to high and medium posts of people from decidedly military backgrounds, and this has been accompanied by regulations that are totally unacceptable in the field of human rights."

Emboldened by his visit to Washington and by the support of US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and his sponsorship of Panama's remilitarization so as to impede the democratization of Panamanian society, Martín the militarist takes advantage of that fact that few citizens are attached to the constitution or constitutionalism in order to ever more strengthen the enemies of democratic freedoms.

Let us again remember that the atrophy of constitutional consciousness has taken hold of the bulk of national society. The absurd and alarming indifference of citizens to blows against the most elemental public liberties has become the principal cause of the authorities' fatal attraction towards a police state.

Martín the militarist promotes the abusive presence of well known soldiers in high government offices. His unmitigated zeal to increase and maintain his political power and the privileges that derive from it places in evidence that the militarist is what dominates his personality and, thanks to the complicit silence of the crude partisan political opposition. gives his soldier accomplices in violations of our freedoms freedom to command and decide. Martín the militarist has transposed the principles and behaviors of militarism to other social ambits, with strange and unbecoming results. Martín the militarist attempts to maintain himself in power, imposing military values and concepts upon society and the people who grow up in it.

Martín the militarist, supported by the silence of the Supreme Court of Justice adn the Public Ministry, has put us on the road toward a police state. Let's act today, because tomorrow's late!