Family of disappeared schoolgirl points finger at Noriega

Two  days after the return of former dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega a Panamanian family is asking the courts to reopen t case of  a “disappeared” young woman.

Rita Wald, a 17 year old,  student activist who opposed the the military regime (1968-1989) disappeared almost 34 years ago, on March 27, 1977, during the military dictatorship of Omar Torrijos, and Noriega his G-2 (intelligence) whom the  family accuse of being the mastermind behind herdisappearance of this material.

 Edwin Wald. The victim's brother presented the request for the reopening of the case  to the Attorney General after the return of Noriega after serving 22 years in jail in the US and France.

The Rita Wald case   was provisionally dismissed by the Panamanian justice system on September 13, 1994, thirteen days after Ernesto Perez Balladares took office as Presidenr. 

Wald said that the request is based on "mutual agreement" reached with the Panamanian American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington on October 26.

The  petition calls on the State of Panama to continue the research not only to reach and punisg those responsible but  to find her remains," said the brother. The agreement also requires a public statement by the State that includes apologizing for the allegations before the Commission, and for the adoption  legislative measures for the prevention and punishment of enforced disappearances, to build a school in memory of Rita Wald and undisclosed financial compensation.

He added that the request to the Attorney will provide requested evidence and it also asks for retired Colonel Roberto Diaz Herrera to be called to testify.  In a newspaper interview, Herrerwho applauded the agreement reached before the Commission for the fand the Panamanian government, and pointed directly to G2 as responsible for the disappearance of the young girl.G2 was  under the command of  then Colonel Noriega.

Rita Wald, as a student in college Felix Olivares, in David, joined popular student  movements opposed to the dictatorship of General Omar Torrijos. Wald's disappearance was recorded, the day before classes began and months before the signing of the Torrijos-Carter, agreement on the transfer of the Canal 7 September, to which she objected. The  Commission that investigated the crimes of the military dictatorship (1968-1989 ) determined the existence of "sufficient evidence to conclude" that the agencies responsible for investigating the case "did not act with due diligence." 

A  Foundation  managed by the family of the missing student said  that the commission ruled that state officials "omitted key steps that concealed the authors of the disappearance of Irene Rita Wald ".