Martinelli misses Colon celebrations while another guy burns

President Ricardo Martinelli has turned down the invitation to take part in the annual November 5 celebration in Colon, of Panama’s breakaway from Colombia. He was there each of the previous three years.

After the recent disturbances,  was he perhaps thinking of a November 5 burning at the stake festival that has survived for over 600 years.in the Britain and has been celebrated by school children in rhyme since the mid 18th century with the doggerel:

Please to remember the fifth of November,
 Gunpowder treason and plot
 I see no reason why gunpowder treason  

Should ever be forgot..

It refers to the attempted blowing up of parliament during the reign of King James I by a group of Catholic conspirators. Guy (Guido) Fawkes was not the leader of the plot but was caught guarding the gunpowder and the fuse . Under torture he coughed up the names of the rest of the band who has hoped to kill the king and queen, and the ruling elite, and after a quick trial, went with them went to a grizzly execution ceremony, which included being drawn to the gallows on a hurdle, having his testicles cut off and burned before his eyes, disemboweling,, hanging and quartering. Guy missed the gruesome end by jumping of the scaffold steps and breaking his neck. The others were less fortunate.

Meanwhile, around London, bonfires were lit celebrating the fact that King James had survived the attempt on his life, and months later the Observance of 5th November Act was introduced to create an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.
Although the legislation was repealed in 1859, the bonfire tradition continues to this day with effigies of “The Guy” made from old clothes and stuffed with paper and straw, burned on bonfires accompanied by fireworks.
As time passed. other effigies were burned along with The Guy. They were usually of unpopular politicians. If President Martinelli or his advisers were aware of this piece of history, the move to skip the Colon festivities may have been a wise one,
Guy Fawkes Night, is also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night,, and children in Britain push their effigies around and ask for “a penny for the Guy”. Their accumulated loot is used to buy firework’s. Collecting pennies for a serving president is not good PR.
On a final note, the burning of Guy Fawkes was celebrated in parts of the US until the Cvil War. Guy became a word for a weirdly dressed man, and today is used to refer to a man, who can be a good or bad guy.

Do your own homework to see which applies to the president among the Colon citizenry .