Truth commission to investigate 1989 US Invasion
A MEETING of civil society organizations will be held on Tuesday Jan.26 to to agree details of a commission to investigate the US “ Just Cause” invasion of Panama in 1989.
Vice President, Isabel de Saint Malo de Alvarado announced the meeting as part of preparations for the establishment of the December 20 Commission: “through which the establishment of the truth is sought, the full knowledge of the number and identity of victims and the recovery of collective memory, among other purposes.”
It will be manged by the office of Martin Santiago , of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Nadia Montenegro, General Deputy Director of Legal Affairs and Treaties of the Ministry of Government.
The meeting will be at 7:30 am in the Ministry offices.
On Friday December 18, President Juan Carlos Varela signed Executive Order No. 641 declaring December 20 a National Day of Reflection and ordered that the national flag be hoisted at half-mast across the country.
The Vice President said that a roadmap to honor the victims of the US invasion has already been defined.
Among the activities to be contemplated is the development of a Truth report determining the identity of the victims, repair recommendations and proposals, evaluation of the installation of memorials, a proposal for possible curricular studies on the facts of the December 20, investigating the possible existence of graves, among others.
No accurate figure has ever been produced of the number of people killed, although stories abound of people gunned down in the streets from helicopter fire and of hundreds of bodies being bulldozed and buried in unmarked mass graves. The commission will endeavor to provide facts to replace conjecture.
