No government answer to call for memorial to dictatorship victims

A letter sent to Panama’s Vice President Juan Carlos Varela ,in July, asking for a monument to honor the memory of the victims of military rule has received no reply.

The letter was sent by the family of Dr Hugo Spadafora, on the 25th anniversary of his brutal murder by military forces under the direction of the military dictator, General Manuel Noriega.

Spadafora was an icon of the struggle against the dictatorship. In the letter, the family called Hugo  "an idealist who acted consistently with the principles of democracy and above all respected the human rights, especially those of the most marginalized."

Spadafora, who at 45 was tortured and decapitated in 1985, was deputy health minister in the 1970s and, actively promoted Panama’s integrated health system.
He had previously fought in Latin American guerilla wars against dictatorships.

Some of the people believed to have been involved in his torture and killing were acquitted. One started a religious group, others led normal lives, and one became a PRD deputy.
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