Omar Torrijos

Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 - August 1, 1981) was a Panamanian army officer and military ruler of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos was often referred to in the American press as the military strongman of Panama. A son of Torrijos, Martín Torrijos Espino, won the Presidential election on 2 May 2004 and took office on September 1, 2004.

Military dictator

He had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1966 and in 1968 he and colonel Boris Martínez led a successful coup d'etat against the democratically-elected president, Arnulfo Arias (Arias himself had led a coup in 1931). In the internal power struggle that followed Torrijos emerged victorious - he exiled Martínez in 1969, made himself a brigadier general and survived an attempted coup from his junior officers. Torrijos further consolidated his power by taking authoritarian measures such as persecuting leaders of student and labor groups, dissolving all political parties and the legislature, closing down independent media outlets, and conducting a ruthless anti-guerrilla campaign in Western Panama. Under these conditions, the regime called for controlled election of an assembly with a single opposition member, which approved a Constitution that granted Torrijos absolute civil and military powers in 1972.

Related Topics:
1966 - 1968 - Boris Martínez - Coup d'etat - Arnulfo Arias - 1969 - Brigadier general - Constitution - 1972

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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 and often English-speaking social elite, often referred to as rabiblancos ("white-tails"), who dominated the commerce and political life of Panama. 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. He was intolerant of political opposition, however, and many opponents were imprisoned, exiled or even killed. One such well-publicized incident was the 1971 kidnapping and disappearance of Héctor Gallegos, a populist Catholic priest.

Related Topics:
1971 - Héctor Gallegos - Catholic

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He also negotiated the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, signed on September 7, 1977. These treaties gave Panamanians sovereignty over the canal zone, 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 the neutrality of the canal. In 1997, General Manuel Noriega revealed in his book, America's Prisoner, that Torrijos planned to sabotage the canal, in the event that the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaties. The contingency plan was code-named "Huele a Quemado" (Literal translation: "It smells like something's burning.") According to Noriega, Panamanian military specialists, including explosives experts and frogmen, infiltrated the U.S. security cordon and lived for two months, posing as peasants and fishermen. They prepared to assault the canal and the Panama-Colón railway with explosives and rocket launchers upon Torrijos' signal, to be broadcast as a coded message over Radio Liberty on the program of popular radio personality Danilo Caballero. When the news came that the treaty had been ratified by the U.S. Senate, the message to stand down -- "Boleros de Ayer has been cancelled" -- was broadcast.

Related Topics:
Torrijos-Carter Treaties - September 7 - 1977 - 2000 - United States - 1997 - Manuel Noriega

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In 1978 when his term as Chief of Government ended he did not seek its extension but retired and planned for a return of full civil authority by 1984. He remained commander of the powerful National Guard while his follower Aristides Royo was a figurehead president. When Torrijos was killed in a plane crash, he was succeeded by Florencio Flores Aguilar who assumed command of the National Guard but he was soon replaced by Rubén Darío Paredes.

Related Topics:
1978 - Chief of Government - 1984 - Aristides Royo - Florencio Flores Aguilar - Rubén Darío Paredes

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