Truth Commission (Panama)

The Truth Commission of Panama was appointed by President Mireya Moscoso in 2000 to investigate crimes committed under the military rule of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega.

In December 2000, human remains were discovered at a Panamanian National Guard base, incorrectly believed to be those of Jesús Héctor Gallego Herrera, a priest murdered during the Torrijos dictatorship. Moscoso appointed a truth commission to investigate the site and those at other bases.[1] The commission faced opposition from the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), which had been the party of both Torrijos and Noriega. The PRD-controlled National Assembly slashed the commission's funding, and PRD president Balbina Herrera threatened to seek legal action against the president for its creation. The commission ultimately reported on 110 of the 148 cases it examined, of which 40 had disappeared and 70 were known to be murdered. The report concluded that the Noriega government had engaged in "torture [and] cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment", and recommended further exhumation and investigation.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Harding 2006, p. 131.
  2. ↑ "Truth Commission Delivers Its Final Report on Victims of the 1968-1988 Military Regime". NotiCen  – via HighBeam Research (subscription required) . May 2, 2002. Retrieved 4 November 2012.

Bibliography

  • Robert C. Harding (2006). The History of Panama. Greenwood Press. ISBN 031333322X.