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Omar Torrijos (right) with farmers in the Panamanian countryside. The Torrijos government was well-known for its policies of land redistribution.

Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was a Panamanian army officer and the de facto leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos never held elected office in Panama, and was never president. He did hold the title of "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" during a period in the late 1970s. Image File history File links Gtk-dialog-info. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... is the 44th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 Gregorian calendar). ...

Torrijos is best known for negotiating the 1977 Treaties that eventually gave Panama full sovereignty over the Panama Canal, at noon on December 31, 1999. Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Two Panamax running the Miraflores Locks The Panama Canal (Spanish: ) is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. ... is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

His oldest son, Martín Torrijos Espino, won the presidential election on 2 May 2004 and took office on September 1, 2004. This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... The Republic of Panama held a general election on Sunday, 2 May 2004, electing both a new President of the Republic and a new Legislative Assembly. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Background

Torrijos was born in Santiago in the province of Veraguas, the sixth of twelve children. He was educated at the local Juan Demóstenes Arosemena school and won a scholarship to the military academy in San Salvador. He graduated with a commission as a second lieutenant. He joined the Panamanian army, the National Guard (Guardia Nacional), in 1952. He was promoted to captain in 1956 and studied further at the School of the Americas. Santiago de Veraguas is the capital of the Panamanian province Veraguas. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Juan Demóstenes Arosemena was President of Panama from October 1, 1936 to December 16, 1939. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Panamanian Government has converted the former Panama Defense Forces (PDF) into a civilian public force, subordinate to civilian officials and composed of four independent units: the Panamanian National Police, the National Maritime Service (Coast Guard), the National Air Service, and the Institutional Protective Service (VIP Security). ... Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), formerly School of the Americas (SOA), is a US Army facility at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, USA. It is a training facility operated in the Spanish language especially for Latin American military personnel. ...

Career

He had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1966 and in 1968 he and Major Boris Martínez led a successful coup d'état against the democratically-elected president, Arnulfo Arias (Arias himself had led a coup in 1931). Although a two-man junta was appointed, Martinez and Torrijos were the true leaders from the beginning. Soon after the coup, Torrijos was promoted to full colonel and named commandant of the National Guard. They barred all political activity and shut down the legislature. They also seized control of three newspapers owned by Arias' brother, Harmodio and blackmailed the owners of the country's oldest newspaper, La Estrella de Panama, into becoming a government mouthpiece. In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ... Year 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Major is a military rank the use of which varies according to country. ... // A coup dÉtat (pronounced ), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, often through illegal means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. ... Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid (August 15, 1901 – August 10, 1988 in Miami, Florida) was president of Panama on three occasions: 1940–41, 1949–51, and for two weeks in October 1968. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Harmodio Arias Madrid was President of Panama from June 5, 1932 to October 1, 1936. ...

In the internal power struggle that followed Torrijos emerged victorious — he exiled Martínez in 1969 and promoted himself to brigadier general. The move came with the tacit backing of the United States, which shared the concerns of many officers that Martínez was too radical. Torrijos consolidated his power by persecuting leaders of student and labor groups and conducting a ruthless anti-guerrilla campaign in Western Panama. In 1972, the regime called for controlled election of an assembly with a single opposition member. The new assembly approved a new Constitution and elected Demetrios Lakas as president. However, the new document made Torrijos the actual head of government, with near-absolute powers for six years. Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... A Brigadier General, or one-star general, is the lowest rank of general officer in the United States and some other countries, ranking just above Colonel and just below Major General. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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 (of indigenous, Hispanic, and African descent) — as opposed to the light-skinned social elite, often referred to as rabiblancos ("white-tails"), who had long dominated the commerce and political life of Panama. He opened many schools and opened job opportunities for the less fortunate. Torrijos instituted a range of social and economic reforms to improve the lot of the poor, redistributed agricultural land and persecuted the richest and most powerful families in the country, as well as independent student and labor leaders. The reforms were accompanied by an ambitious public works program, financed by foreign banks, and plagued by corruption and nepotism, which turned Panama into one of the countries with highest per capita public indebtedness.

On the debit side, Torrijos was extremely intolerant of political opposition. Many opponents were imprisoned, exiled and killed. It was very common for opponents to be flown in a helicopter over the Pacific Ocean, where they were pushed into the water. Two such well-publicized incidents are the 1971 kidnapping and disappearance of Héctor Gallego, a populist Catholic priest and the disappearance of leftist Floyd Britton. Like many other political prisoners and "enemies" of his regime, Britton was imprisoned under extreme conditions in the Coiba penal colony and beaten to death, according to numerous witnesses. His remains have never been found. Year 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the 1971 Gregorian calendar. ... Floyd Britton, perhaps Panamas most important leftist leader of the twentieth century, came from a Black West Indian family that had gone to Panama for jobs, one of the two sources of Panamas Black population. ... Coiba is the largest island in Central America, off the pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Veraguas. ...

President Carter shakes hands with General Torrijos of Panama after signing the Panama Canal Treaty.

Torrijos also negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties over the Panama Canal, signed on September 7, 1977. These treaties passed United States sovereignty over the canal zone to Panama, with a gradual increase in their control over it, leading to complete control after the year 2000. The United States however, retained the permanent right to protect what they see as the neutrality of the canal. Image File history File links Car0-032. ... Image File history File links Car0-032. ... Map of Panama, with Panama canal The Torrijos-Carter Treaties (sometimes referred to in the singular as the Torrijos-Carter Treaty), are a pair of treaties signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D. C. on September 7, 1977, abrogating the Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty signed in 1903. ... Two Panamax running the Miraflores Locks The Panama Canal (Spanish: ) is a major ship canal that traverses the Isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. ... is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ... Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...

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. He planned to return the country to full civilian rule by 1984.^{[citation needed]} Aristides Royo was President of Panama from October 11, 1978 to July 31, 1982. ... For other uses, see President of the United States (disambiguation). ... For other persons named Jimmy Carter, see Jimmy Carter (disambiguation). ... This article is about the year. ...

Death

Mausoleum of Omar Torrijos on Amador, Panama City in the former Canal Zone.

General Torrijos died with several others when his aircraft, a DeHavilland Twin Otter (DHC-6), exploded during its flight. The aircraft disappeared from radar during severe weather, but due to the limited nature of Panama's radar coverage, the plane was not reported missing for nearly a day. The crash site was located several days later, and the body of General Torrijos was recovered by a Special Forces team in the first few days of August. Following a large state funeral, Torrijos was briefly buried in a cemetery in Casco Viejo (the Old City of Panama), before being moved to a mausoleum in the former Canal Zone near Panama City. He was succeeded as commander of the National Guard and de facto leader of Panama by Florencio Flores Aguilar, who later gave way to Rubén Darío Paredes. Image File history File links 7521_03. ... Image File history File links 7521_03. ... The DHC-6 Twin Otter is the most successful aircraft program in Canadas history. ... The Panama Canal Zone (Spanish: ), was a 553 square mile (1,432 km²) territory inside of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles (8. ... This article is about the capital city of Panama. ... Colonel Florencio Flores Aguilar was a Panamanian army officer and the military ruler of Panama from 1981 to 1982. ... Rubén Darío Paredes was a Panamanian army officer and the military ruler of Panama from 1982 to 1983. ...

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." Those documents were not allowed as evidence in trial, because the presiding judge agreed with the U.S. government's claim that their public mention would violate the Classified Information Procedures Act. More recently, former businessman John Perkins [1], alleges in his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that Torrijos was assassinated by American interests, who had a bomb planted aboard his aircraft. The alleged motive is that some American business leaders and politicians strongly opposed the negotiations between Torrijos and a group of Japanese businessmen led by Shigeo Nagano, who were promoting the idea of a new, larger, sea-level canal for Panama. Manuel Noriega, in America's Prisoner, claims that these negotiations had evoked an extremely unfavorable response from American circles. Torrijos died shortly after the inauguration of US President Ronald Reagan, just three months after Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera died in strikingly similar circumstances. It has been suggested that Information sensitivity be merged into this article or section. ... Confessions of an Economic Hitman John Perkins (b. ... Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (ISBN 0-452-28708-1) is a book written by John Perkins and published in 2004. ... For other persons named Noriega, see Noriega (disambiguation). ... “Reagan” redirects here. ... Jaime Roldós Aguilera (b. ...

Famous quotes

Omar Torrijos is well known in Panama for his famous quotes. Here are some examples:

• "I don't like Communism because it hands out wealth through rationing books.” [2]
• "You may rest assured that in our negotiations with the U.S. you will always find us standing on our feet or dead, but never on our knees. Never!" [3]
• "I don't want to go into history; I want to go into the Canal Zone.”
• "If I fall, pick up the flag, kiss it, and keep on going.”
• "Those that consult more, make less mistakes"
• "the (Panama Canal) treaty is like a little pebble which we shall be able to carry in our shoe for 23 years, and that is better than the stake we have had to carry in our hearts." [4]
• the Canal Zone is "a tumor that must go through the operating room." [5]
• satisfying all parties (on a new Panama Canal Treaty) would be about as difficult as pleasing the "princess who had big feet and asked a shoemaker to find her a shoe small on the outside and large inside." [6]

External links

• "Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Panama", by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1978, describes human rights violations by the Torrijos regime.
• An assessment of the career of Omar Torrijos in the context of Panamanian history

References

• Austin American Statesman, May 1, 1991, "U.S. agencies tried to slay Noriega, lawyer tells court."

• Perkins, John. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2004. See pages 156-157 regarding Roldós's alleged assassination.

• BrainyQuote - Omar Torrijos
• Getting to Know the General - Book by Graham Greene