Remembering 1964 student martyrs

COMMEMORATIVE activities to mark the events of  Jan. 9, 1964, when  high school students entered the US zone in Panama and hoisted the Panamanian flag over  an  American  High school,  began  on Monday in Independence  Plaza in Casco Viejo.

President Juan Carlos Varela,  hoisted  the national flag to half mast and then,  accompanied by his ministers, walked to the parish  church of Nuestra Señora de La Merced, where a mass was celebrated in memory of the national martyrs.

“Their gesture is an inspiration for the young people of this country,” said Jose Domingo Ulloa, archbishop of Panama, during the religious ceremony.

Later there was  a wreath laying ceremony at the eternal flame and a minute of silence in the Jardin, de Paz (Garden of Peace.).

Other ceremonies and marches were held throughout the day, and some of them included survivors of the events 53 years ago when 20 Panamanians were  killed by US police and military. The events  led to the temporary breaking of diplomatic relations with the US and later to the 1977 agreement to cede control of the canal to Panama at the end of the century.

It was signed by Panama’s military dictator, Omar Torrijos and US President Jimmy Carter.