Caribbean & Central America - January 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)

Following mounting speculation last month [RC-11-12], Panama’s former military ruler Manuel Noriega (1983-1989) is once again back on native soil after more than two decades abroad. Despite the media hype, his return, which followed an extradition request pushed by President Ricardo Martinelli, no doubt aware of an opportunity to cause further discomfort to Noriega’s former party, the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), has been met with relative indifference (a reflection no doubt of Panama’s young population). As well as prompting speculation regarding the information he might have at his disposal and, more critically, whether he will share it, Noriega’s reappearance in the country has provided fresh impetus to demands of justice for human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorships led by him and his predecessor, General Omar Torríjos (1968-1981).

Having served jail time in the US for drug-trafficking, racketeering and money laundering and then in France for money laundering, Noriega was promptly sent to prison upon his return on 11 December to serve three concurrent 20-year sentences for the murder of political opponents, for which he had been convicted in absentia. The expected petition from his lawyers that he serves out his prison sentence under house arrest has yet to materialise. Such a move would be in line with a 2008 amendment to the law passed under the previous PRD administration, granting this benefit to convicts aged over 70. The change was widely considered to be in anticipation of the return of Noriega, who is now 77. A recent survey by pollsters Dichter & Neira, revealed that only 42% of respondents were in favour of granting him this benefit while 51.3% opposed it.

Noriega’s return has, however, prompted demands from local and international human rights organisations for new investigations into military dictatorships. Martinelli has already announced plans to bring Noriega to trial for the disappearance and presumed killing of Everett Clayton Kimble Guerra, a 21-year old US-Panamanian citizen and a US marine, in 1968. (At the time, Noriega was in charge of the headquarters of the western province of Chiriquí, where the incident took place). Other signs that the government plans to revisit the past include a presidential decree, issued on 5 January, reactivating a truth commission to identify victims and those ‘disappeared’ during the dictatorship. The commission had operated between January 2001 and April 2002 under the Partido Panameñista (PP) administration of Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004), and it documented 110 (out of 148) cases of reported human rights abuses. According to the US Institute of Peace (Usip), an independent federal institution set up and funded by the US Congress, an unofficial follow-up committee continued to work and in October 2003 the Truth Commission was extended to 31 December 2004. The Usip highlights as “serious setbacks” to these efforts, “a lack of funds” and “opposition” from the PRD.

• Martinelli tightens grip over the judiciary

At the start of this year, two new justices were sworn onto the nine-member supreme court (CSJ) for a 10-year term. Hernán Antonio De León Batista and Luis Ramón Fábrega Sánchez, who were proposed by Martinelli and ratified by congress, replace two judges aligned with Moscoso, whose terms had expired. Four of the nine CSJ justices are now Martinelli appointees, after two others were selected in 2010 in a highly questioned process [RC-10-01].  Among the doubts over the latest appointments, local commentators point out that Fábrega is a brother of the deputy minister of the presidency, María Fábrega. Their father, Jorge, himself a former CSJ alternate, is reportedly the most influential of Martinelli’s advisors. The fact that De León was serving as magistrate on the general revenue office (DGI)’s tax tribunal at the time of his appointment also raised objections from legal experts, who cite a 2004 constitutional amendment banning those who served in the executive (in this case the economy and finance ministry) from sitting in the CSJ.

• New CSJ president

The recent inauguration of Alejandro Moncada Luna, another ally of President Ricardo Martinelli, as president of the supreme justice court (CSJ) for a two-year term has also triggered concern among the opposition regarding the President’s control over the top court. Moncada was one of the two controversial appointments made to the CSJ by Martinelli in 2010.  A former member of the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD), Moncada threw his weight behind Martinelli's Cambio Democrático ahead of the 2009 election. Previously, Moncada had also served as a legal adviser to the ministry of government and justice under the dictatorship of Manuel Noriega (1983-1989). These former associations have gained attention given pressure on the Martinelli government to file new charges against Noriega.

• PNC chief

It is not just the opposition Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) which could encounter some discomfort as a result of Manuel Noriega’s return to Panama; some top officials serving in the Martinelli administration could also face some difficult questions. One example is the national police (PNC) chief, Gustavo Pérez de la Ossa, who was appointed by Martinelli and had served in Noriega’s notorious ‘anti-terrorism’ unit. In April 2010, the attorney general’s office opened an investigation into Pérez, amid media leaks of a classified police document which revealed that he had been discharged in 1990 for “affecting the prestige of the police” over the kidnapping of US citizens during the US invasion of Panama in 1989.