Omar Torrijos Foundation Speech by General Noriega-1989

Foreword

The Commander’s Operations Center (COC), collects the Political-Doctrinal pronouncement of Commander Noriega, dictated in the framework of the Omar Foundation Dinner, on January 17, 1989, to disseminate it to an audience that believes in a Panama free from all foreign ties ; that if you believe that we can define our destiny by itself without a Foreign Embassy having to dictate guidelines for conduct; that DOES believe in a Democracy but, not for a few, but for the majority of our people who have had to contribute their share of sacrifice in the face of the aggression of the barbarians from the north. We are sure that what is expressed here by our Commander, will be valid, in the same proportion in which each one of us contributes his grain of sand to achieve a Panama as our people want it: Free, Sovereign and in Peace for Economic Progress .

Captain Severino Mejia ,

Head of the COC

General Manuel Antonio Noriega:

“Once I wrote in La Loteria Magazine that it was ending with the last Torrijos book. It was a book that had been brought to the General, one of those weird books he called “astrological, esoteric , etc.”, that he also liked them a lot, and where it said that Aquarians never die. And he liked it, and I put it in the magazine, with the sense of the philosophical and energetic , that Aquarians like him who have that ideal, who have that movement, who create that energy and who develop in that life have it today and always Mr. President of the Republic, Mr. Manuel Solís Palma ; Professor Maritza Herrera, President of the Omar Torrijos Herrera Foundation , distinguished Ministers of State present here , Honorable Magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, of the Electoral Tribunal, Representatives of the Parliament of the Republic , Ambassadors present, friends of the country: Panama , members of the General Staff and Middle Command of the Defense Forces, all friends.

TOTAL RELEASE

I appreciate the honor of having served the Foundation, of addressing a few words to the friends of yesterday, today, of the patriotic struggle that is immortal as matter and glory. It changes shape, but never dies. And it is that the fight for the total liberation of these 77,082 square kilometers of Panamanian territory entails patriotic awareness , the will to sacrifice, advancing without fear, and without fear of the unknown, without even waiting material compensation.

OMAR’S CONTRIBUTION

Today all of you arrive at this venue, with that thought that hour the generational contribution of a man named Torrijos. You, within your qualification in the First Supper of the year 89, use the moment with a cartographic visa that will tie the milestones that will close the coordinates of the year 2,000.

INTEGRATION

From this personal platform and, with the political and personal hierarchy of those who attend tonight; We can’t, and you don’t expect it, and it would be frustrating if I came to lecture on infantry battalions and the arm wrestling of forward tactics . You, as a genuine expression of Panamanian society in its different nuances as professionals , are interested as I am, and want to know or listen, and so you have printed it in the folder that begins the act, you want to know or listen: order criteria even if they are different , of how the next government of 1989 should be integrated.

DIRECT RELATION

And you can be part of that next government, so that the liberation struggle does not stop . So that material things are inherent to man, they improve, and do not stagnate or deteriorate. And we have to accept that the Defense Forces have a direct relationship, in all the responses that pertain to background. They have a direct relationship with all those answers. With these three questions, knowing that these answers belong to a whole, where the Defense Forces are part of that whole.

THE PARTIES

Political parties , trade union organizations, grassroots movements also have the same direct relationship , as do those who have made their capacity for work and investment a challenge to wealth and production .

“DEMOCRATIC” MODEL?

But we also have to accept that the United States of America has it , which since the construction of the Trans-Isthmus Railroad have a direct relationship in the capacity to dispose of our destinations and in the capacity to destroy our economy . And everything that, in the name of a “democratic” model .

THE ESTABLISHMENT

But gentlemen, it is irritating, to the utmost power, that they seek to set themselves up as judges, that before determining what is or is not: “Democracy” and what Panamanian society needs or does not need. That is why when we hear the thesis of imposing Democracy on this society, we feel that nobody can believe them. Because we all systematically imagine a stereotyped position, since the Democracy that the people yearn for is very far from being the one that the specialized centers of Saxon culture, the periplus of the oligarchies managed by the “State Department” or the “Establishment”.

WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT

And it is not precisely Democracy, white and with handkerchiefs and saucepans, that the people want. The one that anonymous men want, the one that anonymous women want, those who have never appeared on the lists of delinquent contributors to Social Security or Income Tax. And it is precisely that social status that is most interested in what the government is going to do now and that is interested in the integration of the next government. And that he is interested in things getting better.

NATIONALIST PROGRESS

And these questions have a direct connection with the answers of that man who also wants nationalist progress and the faithful maintenance of patriotism and victory over colonialism. That it wants the vindication of its sovereignty and with a fixed program of the definitive departure of North American structures, which make up physical structures , without copies, that limit free passage through its territory. That strangle and deform the urban development of their communities and that consume and pollute and do not preserve the ecological balance that is the reserve and source of the generation of the 21st century. And there is Bique and there is Veracruz , and there is Kobee and there is Farfán and all New Emperor and those jungles . And there are the waters of La Lagarterita in Lake Gatún .

MATHEMATICAL TRUTH

Economic dependence and its subordination is a borrower and is what has prevented achievement of the development objectives of our Government. The process of identification of ideals and purposes that brings us together tonight , we must accept as a mathematical truth : that the evolution of peoples and societies that build their history in which we have lived for centuries, tells us that The energetic strength of the Panamanian people in their generational liberation struggle, together with their social and economic demands, cannot lose the momentum that the January martyrs undertook in 1964.

END GOAL

And that the final objective of the last ten years to go, which we need to enter the 21st century, has clear milestones that are invariable, immovable, and that translated into the political arena are expressed in the governments from 1989 to 1994 or from 1994 to 1999.

STYLE OF ORIGIN

What does this mean ? That the essence of renewal in this relay race, the team that leads The Torch of Liberation has to stay on top. Consequently, the governments to come, or the governmental milestones that await us until 1999, cannot change the style of their origin. Therefore…they have to do the lessons of history.

ELITISM

The style of origin of the governments from 1903, until 1968, sixty-five years, gentlemen … It was totally of a special cut, in the image and likeness of the “establishment” of the power pole of the Continent. The Panamanian State and its society of rulers with strongly marked characters had been formed . Where a group or a single group of families had the best opportunities for the enjoyment of wealth and the right to elitist education.

CHANGE OF DESTINATION

The return of Torrijos, on December 16, 1969, the denial of his reality, the support of the popular forces and the middle command of the National Guard, changed the destiny of this nation. And it is precisely this first runner of the “relay race”, which I am referring to as the government succession to reach the long-distance runner who crosses the finish line on December 31, 1999, of the administration . Is this allegory that tells us about the political parties that manage and assume the leadership of the country, knowing that they do so in a coalition based on an anti-colonial, liberationist principle in search of social development and the dignity of man. .. ?

ROYAL SEARCH

to be framed in a real, own, creative search more than a speculative philosophical one with the theoretical and doctoral of the reality of: WHAT WE ARE.. WHERE WE COME FROM… WHAT WE SERVE… WHAT WE CAN INVEST… WHAT SHOULD WE DEDICATE TO… WHAT SHOULD WE OVERCOME… AND WHAT SHOULD WE BUY?

PRIORITIES

to know that our times our government projects must have priorities in trade, in marketing, in storage, in the country of deposit and transit, in the agricultural country , in basic production , in the exploitation of foreign pirates of tuna , shrimp, sardines, etc., and that we cannot go with a wear and tear of a model of an industrial country whose capacity we do not have

CLEAR VISION

The next government has to have a clear vision and decision to break formal structures that bind it as a simple executive leader that turns it into a pasty, sluggish bureaucracy that allows, stimulates and disfigures: the “bribery”, the “Sablazo” and the percentage”. The next government, I repeat, has to have a clear vision and decision to break formal structures that bind it as a pure and simple executive leader and turn it into the pasty, sluggish bureaucracy that allows, stimulates and disfigures: the “bribery” , the “sablazo” and the “percentage” of those looking for the profile here in Panama .

FUNCTION SETTING

The adjustment of the competing ministerial functions is imposed, within the framework of a duplication of functions with which they obey or respond to obsolete ministries and entities that were created to hide realities evolved in density and need.

NEW STRUCTURES

Consequently, it entails the creation of new work structures that are in tune with the new demand that is urgently needed and that arises with the transition from one century to another.

POLITICAL SPACE

The concept of political space , with its anarchic management and insubordination and challenge to the leadership and discipline of the President of the Republic , should be a reason for profound adjustment, so that the parties know that they are the instrument of a plan national and not personal. That they are vehicles towards a popular and social solution, and not autonomous patrols that compromise the strategy of unity and development of the nation.

LOYALTY

employee who has been venturing into para-union organizations, in search of job stability, must receive the same, in direct proportion to their performance and loyalty. And don’t waver from political or partisan allegiance . I speak of the loyalty of “no sabotage”, remembering with this, the deaths of the Panamanian Air Force , by the criminals of “pseusindicalism” at the service of a foreign embassy.

DISTRIBUTION OF EMPLOYEES

This government, which has not carried out “mass layoffs” nor has it committed itself to a drastic reduction in wages , which has respected fortnightly wages, must also understand that it cannot be relieved by a government “ throw the towel”’, which seeks political solutions in the increase of payroll. The redistribution of public employees is imposed , based on needs and capacities.

ADMINISTRATIVE CAREER

The Administrative Career Law is an objective of the leaders and is a Allied and evolutionary procedure for those who also have a responsibility for the Liberation Struggle at the arrival of 1999. But to them, to the public employees , I also want to say, with the truth that characterizes me, that they do not “pass camouflaged” . I also want to tell you not to be fooled or flirted with the siren songs of those who, not believing in this Liberation Struggle, of those who, not having appointed them to those positions, want to tie them to their opposition car, without a future of labor and economic stability; You can be sure that the opposition, if it were to win, would immediately apply the policy of dismissals , which this Revolutionary Process has not wanted to apply.

DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

The Government Development Strategy must contain, in this urgent stage, the Centralization of the Allocations of Import Quotas, Import Stamps, Certificates and other Allocation procedures that constitute basic profits that can report specific lines of the National Economy .

The lived experience sustains that we have to modify materially, morally and mentally in entities of new uses and customs with the rationalized control of what we have and what we can. We speak of our society as a consumer community of indiscriminate buyers, of waste, of “Master Card” and “ Visa Card” or of the popular expression : “Charge it to my account” because the paper holds.

SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

The return to small and medium-sized companies as an economic reality is mandatory, because the crisis demonstrated blackmail with the participation and confusion of large companies. It was precisely the small and medium -sized companies that faced shortages, and they became the logistical creed of the popular classes, linked to the food markets and popular fairs.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT

This strengthening of small and medium-sized companies should not exclude government support for large companies or entrepreneurs who have other types of capacity, another range of action and more extensive and complex risks .

SOCIAL UTILITY

The economic investments of all these and the commercial business organizations must also have a sense of social and humanistic utility. The rules of the government game must be clear , without hidden cards, in the certainty that the investment is stimulated and guaranteed by that state.

WITHOUT FEAR OR THREATS

And it is in the sum total of the Economy : what counts is the use of all forces and all forms and economic organizations , including state organization, cooperatives, private companies in all their manifestations that exist without fear no fears and no threats.

IMPROVEMENT

The Banking Center: I am aware of requests to open new banks. From banks with money, from others who hid the money, they are offering the money. New accounts are opened. We are still the safest country for money . We are a magnetic point for deposit security, and from experience lived by those concerned men of the banking community, they gave us reason, we must perfect the Banking System, so that it is a “Panamanian style” system according to the circumstances of the universal poverty of foreign debt and new models of banking transactions. For example: it was said that in order to combat drug trafficking it was necessary to reveal “banking secrecy”. Panama heard that secret and launched the operation called “ Pisces”, but that credit was never recognized . And it was used to strangle others who had nothing to do with drug trafficking .

HISTORICAL AND GEOPOLITICAL REALITY

The experiment of the Banking System, including the demonstration of sharpness and ability of its directors, put us in a position to create the System to reinforce and perfect it, because it truly responds to a historical and geopolitical reality of this Panamanian nation . Since the time when the Spanish Colony established its exchange houses and deposits on the isthmus, it was responding to that reality . I was responding in that century to a truth: it could exist, not in the Viceroyalty of Peru , nor in the Viceroyalty of New Granada, and that it could only function in the Isthmus of Panama . And there are the ruins of the Customs House of Portobelo that silently narrate its past of riches, power and splendor.

DANGEROUS MONSTER

The International Monetary Fund, the FML that has become the dangerous monster, born of the Bretton — Woods Agreements, is a manifest and putative monstrosity of the Empire. They made the policy of the monetary areas that after abandoning the Gold Standard they created in a long history, the “Sterling Area”, the “Dollar Area” with the pretext of giving direct support to the country’s currencies . poor people, with gold reserves, which is nothing more than a speculation that surprised the good faith of the underdeveloped fools of the world.

STERLING AREA

The “Sterling Area” existed until after the First World War, they passed the gold to England, and after this war it was transferred to “ Fort Knox-Kentucky” and we see here that Great Britain itself it was in great trouble to sustain its “Monetary Area”. History tells us that she had to appeal to the guarantees of the English empire itself for the preservation of that leadership.

AREA “DOLLAR”

But there, the competition from the United States, the struggle for domination had already accumulated eighty percent of the gold, and he dictated his famous Fiduciary Law that presented a dollar in the Federal Reserve bank, it would be compensated with its equivalent in gold. This quite difficult system , achieved a sympathy and natural attraction to promote the birth of the “Area Dollar”, and from here the “Dollar” becomes the currency of exchange in the Western world, replacing the British Pound.

“ROYALTIES”
From then on, from here , the scene is changed from the two Englishmen announcing the official value of gold: loudly , in front of the public from the Tower of London, to Wall Street, which reserved doing so in silence from their chilled offices on 5a. Avenue, fixing the value of the ounce of gold, the Troy ounce or the American Dollar, on the addition of a political price , which did not obey the Law of Supply and Demand, but which allows to collect the “ royalties” to the operations where this exchange currency intervened.

At the end of World War II, this system, due to the loss of a large part of the gold reserve, profoundly threatens the existence of the “Area Dollar” where Post-War expenses are added.

THE IMF APPEARS

And spiral history repeats the situation in England after the First World War. But that and for that, it was necessary to create the instrument that would consolidate the “Area Dollar”. And it is there where the International Monetary Fund appears with the reinforcement participation of the majority of committed Western countries , through a long contribution to the Fund from which their currencies would be managed and their policies would be set . Monetary policies and the factors that you had linked, directly or indirectly, to the economic events of the subscribers, here in this act speaks very loudly of the role of the reserve release process.

HISTORICAL BECOME

The historical evolution led to reality, which was responsible for going much further and leading to the “hour of regrets”. And today, we have Latin America, Indian and mestizo, on its knees and lamenting .

THE IMF

And that’s FM I. And that is the System that calls for radical readjustments and implies the drastic reduction of public spending based on the elimination of functions and countless plans with social consequences. No government that has adopted the prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund has failed to experience social explosions in their communities. Our Government, consequently, cannot accept recipes for economic readjustments that could threaten us in the integration of the national community.

EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS

Of Foreign Relations: The formation of a new government must have in its essential elements the ability to adjust the Right to conduct its International Relations according to liberationist attitudes and cultural identifications and economic opportunities in violation of their inalienable rights to choose to their friends or their relatives.

FOLLOW THE PRESSURE

Panama began in 1903 the sad role of being a nation of having its International Relations “by hand”. Even today , despite the breaking of dependency with the “Continental power cone “, we have felt the pressure not to sign Trade Agreements with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . use of two pressure mechanisms so that Panama does not open its foreign range in other fields. And also expel the pressure , direct or indirect, from that mechanism so that Russia does not establish relations with Panama .

DIVERSIFICATION

The formation of a new government must include its security rearguard, the international areas that contribute to the prestige of the country’s self-determination, and the search for diversification and economic exchange. The National Liberation strategy cannot run the risk of appointing in any position of the Foreign Service 8 officials, career or not, who live oblivious, ignorant or evasive of the fulfillment of their mission history

“CLUB OF THE SELLERS”

Simply because we are well learned from history, because they too would return to welcome the “Club of the sellouts” which is the blood type of the Zonian , of the mercenaries , of those who for their vision at their class, those who due to cowardice , or those who due to dependency, culture or training cannot live without these supposed ideological principles . For ambition of power in a manifestation of latent moral dwarfism.

ADVANCED OBSERVER

The adjustment of the cadres of the Foreign Service must be done with economy of administrative order, but also with importance of area . Because a Foreign Service officer is a forward observer of our doctrine.

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

On Freedom of Expression: On Freedom of Expression, on Freedom of the Press that will be demanded of the new government, I would like to refer you to Mr. José Figueres , Mr. “Pepe” Figueres, when the Sandinistas closed down the newspaper “La Prensa from Managua. Don “Pepe” Figueres, admired by all Panamanian democrats , whom no democrat can criticize, founder of Costa Rican democracy said: “All my life I fought against the Somoza dynasty , because it was expansionist “ They bought large properties in Costa Rica and impersistently intervened in our affairs. Furthermore , they were consummate torturers and bandits. The United States Embassy in Managua supported them. I have seen countless movements organized to overthrow them and I am grateful to them. Sandinistas for having removed them, finally…! Now for the first time Nicaragua has a government that cares about its people. I would have preferred a different form of government in Managua. I am a fervent democrat and I am in favor of an Electoral System with Freedom of the Press. But it hurt me a lot when they closed “La Prensa,” but I also understand that Nicaragua is a nation at war, besieged by the United States and the regional oligarchies . When Somoza invaded Costa Rica in 1948 and again in 1955, we also established and closed. And we established press censorship as long as that threat lasted and lasted.”

OF LOW INTENSITY CONFLICT:

Who established the Civilist Crusade in Panama ? Who used the embassies to conspire ? Who has made the movement to remove us from the “Group of Eight”? Who sent to the Philippines those who later orchestrated the destabilization group? They … ..they, they. Those who have always used Panama as an experimental field. The proof is that in the Second World War, they constituted in the San José Island of the San Miguel Archipelago an operational center of the Chemical Warfare laboratory . And that Isla Cove.

DOCTRINAL FOUNDATIONS

I want to make this meeting between men and women of the same opinion conducive to expressing that I am going to read the doctrinal foundations made by captains to whom this Commander General, with great pride, serves as spokesman: “This is how I want to consider Panama a fi In the Santa Fé Document , as a form of struggle that includes special, psychological operations, two things are clearly seen: the first is omitted, the second: the radiant intention of the North Americans to remain in Panama after the year 2000 , through alleged negotiations for what they will need a manipulated and docile Government and Defense Forces . developing, in Panama , at the expense of the Panamanians , is ironic , “ the captains continue, “because there are times when it is not possible to identify who the insurgents are , and who are or are the insurgents. That although it is true from the point of view of the North Americans, we Panamanians are insurgents, in our own territory, because they intend to democratize us”. However, when we read Manual RB 7–13 Insurrection Movement , which according to subversive insurrection there are three models or strategies that can be used to overthrow a government or implant it by one that pleases the “communists”, they say, these strategies are: the Popular United Front, the Right and the of the Left.

SOME VARIANTS

And analyzing the strategy of the Right, we will see our situation clearly presented in some variants, since the strategy supports the duty to involve the use of illegal agencies, both official and unofficial, to influence and manipulate the influential elements of society. Just like they did to us

COMPARISONS

To make comparisons, you will see that some of the agencies that they recommend are: The subversive groups replaced here in Panama by the Civilist Crusade , and the Civic Clubs that maintain their loyal status and freedom, propaganda and recruitment . Second: Embassies and Consulates. The Manual indicates in the first group, thus openly, the Manual RB 7–13 indicates that these subversive groups are the communists, however we have not seen that the communists are the ones that carry out subversive acts. And in point two they indicate in that manual that the embassies and consulates are Russia, China, Korea and others. But here we do n’t have an embassy from Russia, or from China , or from Korea.

CLANDESTINE EMBASSY

But we do know that there is an Embassy that works on Avenida Balboa, and a Consulate that works on Avenida Balboa and a residence that is located in La Cresta and a meeting area that works in all the restaurants in Panama . And all of this has been used as a base for sedition and clandestine activities in Panama .

APPLIED TECHNIQUE

The exchange missions that sell economic expressions that collect information such as the transnationals, the Panama Canal Commission, the ALD, cultural exchanges have been doing and studying them with the technique applied to officers of the Armed Forces. Defense that could not resist that penetration in the courses of the North. Advisors, Industrialists and Technicians commanding them have tried to impose blows and having the Second Chief of the Embassy, what specific plans . overthrowing governments with News and Travel Agencies, these have been one of the most used techniques , through even putting national disinformation, especially international , a list of Panama , within from “dangerous” countries for recreational travel. The cruise ship that used to go down to Colón has been prohibited from going down in Colón. They indicate that the population of these towns is “dangerous”. So we see that what they classify in their own doctrines as strategies used for subversive insurrection to overthrow governments, they have wanted to apply typically in Panama , with pitiful help from them. Panamanian incarnates of 1903.

THE PANAMANIAN WOMAN

From the Panamanian woman: I am proud to express before you, invited by the President of the Omar Torrijos Herrera Foundation, the fact that it is a woman who presides over this act, speaks very clearly of the Reserve Release Process. The next government can not ignore the belligerent role of Panamanian women in the political and social life of the country . They have given sufficient evidence of courage and decision, creating organisms in defense of sovereignty , joining the Dignity Battalions in an outstanding way.

MILITANT WOMAN

The next milestones that await us to reach the year 2,000 have to be possessed by the active and militant presence of Panamanian women, and some of the Panamanian women’s parties that form that political unit of advancement and defeat that goes against the colony.

THERE WAS NO COWARDICE

That woman, that in her there was no moment of sadness, she had no moment of cowardice despite the tension, and she was present, and active and at the forefront. She did not think, nor did she hope, nor did she conjugate fear or danger in her dictionary. There was no moment of danger or militancy where she did not have. There was no moment of sacrifice where she, as a mother, as a daughter, as a wife, as a sister, was not in her mind or in her thoughts only the destiny of the country.

RECOMMENDATION

To that woman whom I humbly recommend to all the heads of the political parties that go against colonialism. And it is precisely to that woman that I recommend to all the leaders of all related parties and friends, that I recommend so that from today they integrate her into the active and effective work strategy of the generational form from 89 to 94, and that it constitutes the real, formal and participating and militant inspiration of the long-distance team that will carry the torch of liberation with their companions with their children, with their brothers until noon on Friday, December 31, 1999, pointing out the exit route of the last foreign soldier of our country .

PHILOSOPHICAL SUMMARY _

We must have a crystal ball that she will be there with the torch of liberation next to her partner , with determination. And she will be precisely the one who will become the arrow where it says “out”, all this is summed up in because a philosophical concept that a woman from the Defense Forces, a paratrooper, said on the day of the closing: “where there are women who advance , there are no men who go backwards”.

A SINGLE IDEAL

I thank you for the invitation tonight, in this meeting of friends and men committed to a mission; at this Foundation dinner where there are men from different political parties , where there are men who do not even belong to political parties, where there are diplomats , where there are industrialists, merchants, workers, trade unionists, where there are women , where there are young people and students, but we have all come here tonight because we have a common denominator, because apart from the political flags that we owe or the demands that we make at an electoral table we have the first with no common denominator ; being or accepting to be a colony, and second because the cultural and social identification of all those who here tonight share the salt and water of this table is unique , it is specific , and it constitutes the search for the infinite where there is the the ideal, the search for the ideal where there is progress, the search for progress where there is movement, the search for movement where there is energy , the search for energy where there is life . He concluded by responding to the suggestive theme of tonight’s dinner: Around the year 2000 what ? I respond as if to the heat and lying in a hammock and with a fever Bol i var said: In Patimilca, around 2000, included in 89 and 94 and 94 and 99 as Bolivar said in Patimilca, “To win.”