The Dignity Battalions were paramilitary combatants created by Panama's military government in the 1980s to help train workers and farmers to defend Panama against invasion by the United States.[1] At the Panamanian presidential elections of 7 May 1989, Guillermo Endara Galimany, along with vice presidential candidates Ricardo Arias-Calderon and Guillermo "Billy" Ford [2] ran against Manuel Noriega's candidate Carlos Duque. The U.S. Government openly gave $10 million to the Endara campaign and election results were annulled by the Panamanian Government on May 10.[1] Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, there as an observer, denounced Noriega, saying the election had been "stolen".[3] Noriega advocates complained that the elections had already been tampered with when the United States backed Noriega's opposition by funding their campaign. Another factor that adversely affected the 1989 electoral process, as reported to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, was the predicament of various political leaders who had been forced to leave the country. The Government of Panama adopted a practice of detaining and harassing the political opposition, seizing their property and forcing them to leave the country. This reprehensible government conduct prevented a major group from participating in election activities and thus gave the government coalition an advantage. Many journalists and members of the opposition were detained for long periods without being charged.[4]
Amid the outcry, Noriega unleashed his Dignity Battalions to suppress demonstrations.[5] In an image caught on video and played out in news sources around the world, they attacked Billy Ford's car. Ford's bodyguards were shot and killed. Billy Ford attempted to flee as one member of the Dignity Battalions pummeled him repeatedly with a metal pipe. This image, displayed on the front cover of the May 22, 1989 TIME magazine,[6] brought worldwide attention to Noriega's regime. The other two presidential candidates were also severely beaten.[7]
The leader of the battalions, appointed by Noriega, was Benjamin Colamarco, former Minister of Public Works (2006) under President Martín Torrijos' administration.
In a 1989 interview with the New York Times, United States General Maxwell R. Thurman said, referring to the Dignity Battalions, "I am looking inward because I have the security responsibility for all Panama therefore I don't want the dingbats blowing their way through the embassy." [8] The nickname also appears in a number of other sources.