Omar Torrijos
Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution Omar Torrijos | |
---|---|
Military Leader of Panama | |
In office October 11, 1968 – July 31, 1981 | |
President | José María Pinilla (1968–69) Demetrio Lakas Bahas (1969–78) Arístides Royo (1978–82) |
Preceded by | Arnulfo Arias (President) |
Succeeded by | Rubén Darío Paredes |
Personal details | |
Born | Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera February 13, 1929 General |
Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was a Panamanian dictator, as well as the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and military leader of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, but instead held titles including "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution". Torrijos took power in a coup d'état and instituted a number of social reforms.
Torrijos is best known for negotiating the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties that eventually gave Panama full sovereignty over the Panama Canal. The two treaties guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903. On December 31, 1999, the final phase of the treaty, the US relinquished control of the Panama Canal and all areas in what had been the Panama Canal Zone.
His son Martín Torrijos was elected president and served from 2004 to 2009.
Background
Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera
Career
He had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1966. Due to accusations of his involvement in election frauds, Torrijos was ordered to El Salvador in 1968 as a military attaché.
For him, the overthrown government "was a marriage between the armed forces, the oligarchy and the bad priests; the soldier carried his rifle to silence the people and forbid "the scoundrel" to disrespect the ruling class. "Explaining that his revolution acts "for the poor, not for the owners", he had a new Constitution, an agrarian reform, and a Labour Code adopted and recognized the workers' and peasants' unions.
Torrijos introduced a
In 1972, the regime held a controlled election of an Assembly of Community Representatives, with a single opposition member. The new assembly approved a new Constitution and elected Demetrio Lakas as president. However, the new document made Torrijos the actual head of government, with near-absolute powers for six years.
Torrijos was regarded by his supporters as the first Panamanian leader to represent the majority population of Panama, which is poor, Spanish-speaking, and of mixed heritage– as opposed to the stereotypically white-skinned social elite, often referred to as rabiblancos ("white-tails", or more recently, yeyé(s)), who had long (and still do, to a lesser extent) dominated the commerce and political life of Panama. He opened many schools and created new job opportunities for those less fortunate. Some say he even spent his weekends giving a thousand dollars to random people and charities.[5] Torrijos instituted a range of social and economic reforms to improve the land lots of the poor, and redistributed agricultural land. He prosecuted the richest and most powerful families in the country, and in turn favored his political allies, which enabled them to amass their own fortunes at the expense of the Panamanian treasury.[7] During his dictatorship, corruption and drug trafficking in Panama increased considerably.[8] His reforms were accompanied by an ambitious public works program, financed by foreign banks.
In international politics, Torrijos supported Chilean President Salvador Allende and welcomed refugees after the 1973 coup d'état. He helped the Sandinista guerrillas in Nicaragua and other rebel forces in El Salvador, Guatemala, and renewed diplomatic relations with Cuba.
In 1978, he stepped down as head of the government but remained de facto ruler of the country while another one of his followers, Aristides Royo, was a figurehead president. He also restored some civil liberties; U.S. President Jimmy Carter had told him that the Senate would never approve the Canal treaties unless Torrijos made some effort to liberalize his rule.[9]
Panama Canal
An admirer of Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and inspired by Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, he embarked on a fight against the United States to gain Panama's sovereignty. In 1973, in the absence of progress in negotiations with the United States, he tried to involve the UN: "We have never been, are not and will never be an associated state, colony or protectorate, and we do not intend to add a star to the United States flag". The US vetoed the adopted resolution.
Torrijos negotiated the
Political transition
With pressure from the Carter administration as well as from economic depression, Torrijos sought to appease public distress and defuse opposition from labor unions as well as influential oligarchs. He reintroduced the traditional parties by modifying the 1972 constitution and set elections for 1984. During this time, in 1979, Torrijos organized the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) which loosely linked to Socialist International ideals and represented a melange of social classes, namely the internationally affiliated bourgeoisie. Due to the incoherent nature of this organization, Torrijos was the pivotal figure in maintaining a stable vision between the left and right tendencies within it. His death in 1981, before the transition could be completed, caused a political crisis in the country which led to Manuel Noriega coming to power as military ruler.[6][10]
Personal life
Omar Torrijos has been generally regarded as a personable man though varying accounts appear contradictory. He married Raquel Pauzner in 1954 and had three children. Having spent most of his time with campesinos during the weekends, he had little time to spare for his children. He had three primary residences: a beach house at Farallón, a house at Coclesito, and a house on Fiftieth Street in Panama City, the last of which his family lived a few blocks from. According to first-hand accounts by Torrijos's friend and guest, Graham Greene, Torrijos had a mistress who was studying sociology in the U.S.[11]
Torrijos has been described as a heavy drinker who enjoyed Havana cigars and beautiful women.[6] During a meeting with American Ambassador Brandon Grove in December 1969, Torrijos challenged him to a game of pinball and later said, “I’m not an intellectual but a man of horse sense, like a farmer”.[5] Torrijos relished in the opinions others had of his colleagues and acquaintances especially if they coincided with his own. He has been described as humble and respectful as he listened to the plights of middle and lower-class people.[11]
Death
Torrijos died at the age of 52 when his aircraft, a
Torrijos' death generated charges and speculation that he was the victim of an assassination plot. For instance, in pre-trial hearings in Miami in May 1991, Manuel Noriega's attorney, Frank Rubino, was quoted as saying "General Noriega has in his possession documents showing attempts to assassinate General Noriega and Mr. Torrijos by agencies of the United States."[15] In 1981, Soviet news agency TASS also claimed that the U.S. had caused Torrijos's death.[16]
Former Noriega chief of staff Colonel Roberto Diaz, a cousin of Torrijos, as recently as 2013 has several times accused the United States and Noriega of involvement in Torrijos's death and called for investigations.[17][18][19]
Foreign honours
- Belize:
- Recipient of the Order of Belize (2006, awarded posthumously)[20]
- Cuba:
- Recipient of the Order of José Martí (1976)[21]
- Peru:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru (1974)[22]
- Spain:
- Collar of the Order of Civil Merit (1977)[23]
- Yugoslavia
- Order of the Yugoslav Great Star (1976)[24]
See also
- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
- José de Jesús Martínez
- List of unsolved deaths
- Tocumen International Airport
- Getting To Know The General: The Story of an Involvement
References
- ISBN 9780230271357.
- ^ "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976, VOLUME XXII, PANAMA, 1973–1976: Persons". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ^ "Panama's Down-To-Earth Leader". The New York Times. March 20, 1973. Retrieved October 5, 2023.
- ISBN 0-7658-0075-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-8262-1573-4.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-393-02696-2.
- ^ Gandásegui, Marco A. "Los dueños de Panamá". www.laestrella.com.pa (in Spanish). Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ Schering, Brittney (November 23, 2017). "A Brief History Of Omar Torrijos". Culture Trip. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-887985-84-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-8133-7045-0.
- ^ ISBN 0-370-30808-5.
- ^ (in Spanish) Panamá descarta un sabotaje en la muerte de Torrijos. By Jesús Ceberio. El País (Spain), August 15, 1981.
- ^ ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 FAP-205 Coclecito:
- ^ Panama: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
- ^ "Noriega Strategy Unfolds Attorneys Hope To Drag Past U.S. Role Into Trial." Archived July 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine By Warren Richey. Sun Sentinel, May 1, 1991.
- ^ "Soviet "Active Measures": Forgery, Disinformation, Political Operations" (PDF). Inside the Cold War. United States Department of State Bureau of Public Affairs. October 1981. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 1, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
- ^ Colonel Requests Investigation into Omar Torrijos Death. Panama Digest, March 2, 2013.
- ^ The CIA Used Manuel Noriega to Assassinate Panamanian Leader Omar Torrijos Archived December 17, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. August 4, 2009.
- ^ US Responsible For Death Of Omar Torrijos, - Former Militar. Newsroom Panama, February 18, 2013.
- ^ "Independence Day Address 2006" (PDF). caribbeanelections.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "Le impone al General de Brigada Omar Torrijos la Orden Nacional "José Martí" la más alta condecoración del país". fidelcastro.cu. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "CONDECORADOS: ORDEN EL SOL DEL PERU" (PDF). Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "Real Decreto 2539/1977, de 5 de septiembre, por el que se concede el Collar de la Orden del Mérito Civil al excelentísimo señor Omar Torrijos Herrera, Jefe de Gobierno de la República de Panamá". Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
- ^ "Одликувања" (PDF). Službeni list SFRJ. XXXII (41): 1272. September 17, 1976.
Further reading
- Grieb, Kenneth J. "Omar Torrijos Herrera" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 5, pp. 259-60. Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
- Lafeber, Walter. The Panama Canal: The Crisis in Historical Perspective. (1979)
- Priestley, George. Military Government and Popular Participation in Panama: The Torrijos Regime, 1968-1975. (1986)
External links
- Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Panama, by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Organization of American States, 1978. The Commission concluded that there was a significant improvement in the situation of human rights from 1972 onwards.
- Panama The Government of Torrijos and the National Guard. An assessment of the career of Omar Torrijos in the context of Panamanian history.
- Web Site of author John Perkins.
- His Man in Panama. By Alan Riding. New York Times, November 4, 1984. A review of Graham Greene's Getting to Know the General.
- Torrijos: The Man and the Myth. Americas Society exhibition in NYC. Photographs of Graciela Iturbide, Jan 31 – May 5, 2008.