Former comptroller and Civil Crusade activist dies

The former Panama Comptroller and activist of the Civilist Crusade, Alvin Weeden Gamboa, died Thursday, December 14, in a hospital in the capital, to which he had been admitted urgently two days ago. He was 77.

The funeral mass will be next Tuesday, December 19, at 10:30 a.m., in the church National Shrine of the Heart of Mary.

Weeden, who qualified as a lawyer in 1975, was comptroller of the Republic for five years, starting in January 2000. His successor was Dani Kuzniecky. As comptroller, Weeden created the Internal Audit Directorate and established the electronic endorsement of contracts and other acts of the State. His deputy controller was Enrique Lau Cortés, current director of the Social Security Fund (CSS).

Before occupying the position of comptroller, he was a vigorous opponent of the military dictatorship (1969-1989), for which in 1976 he was exiled to Guayaquil. Also in that group of exiles were the businessmen Roberto Eisenmann, Antonio Domínguez, Dario Santamaría, Gilberto Álvarez, Jaime Aizpurúa, Guillermo Ford, and Porfirio Samudio, the lawyers Winston and Iván Robles and Miguel Antonio Bernal, the economist Rubén Darío Carles and the journalist Alberto Quiros Guardia.

That was the first time in the country’s history that forced expatriations occurred.

Starting in April 1978, then-general Omar Torrijos allowed the return of exiles to Panama, among other variations to his policy of democratic freedoms, to facilitate the ratification of the Torrijos-Carter treaties by the US Senate.

When his period as comptroller ended, on December 31, 2004, he dedicated himself to growing pineapples and the private practice of law. In the 2014 elections, he was a candidate for deputy in the 8-7 circuit, through free nomination.

In 2015, he filed a complaint to investigate the scandal over the bribes that Odebrecht disbursed in Panama, payments that were later admitted by executives and frontmen of the company itself. In this case, two former presidents (Ricardo Martinelli and Juan Carlos Varela), former ministers, lawyers, and politicians will be tried in July 2024, for alleged money laundering.

Last Sunday, he gave his last interview to La Prensa, when journalist Juan Manuel Díaz called him to ask his opinion on the irregular use of funds delivered to the community boards

Aurelio Baría, one of his great friends, was with him last Monday when he stopped by to visit him at his law firm. “He was a man who always remained strict in defense of ethical principles and against corruption. He was a very active companion in the Civilist Crusade and a great defender of democracy. He liked farming too. He planted mangoes, lemons… He defended the causes with great vigor and energy. Sometimes we didn’t share opinions, but we respected each other. It was interesting to listen to him because he had important arguments and made us reflect on the scope of the decisions that were made,” Barría recalled.

He is survived by his wife Malvina Arosemena and his daughters Adriana and Alexandra.