President of Panama apologizes to family for disappearance of activist in 1970 under dictator
By APFriday, May 28, 2010
Panama apologizes in activist’s 1970 disappearance
PANAMA CITY — Panama’s president has formally apologized to the family of an activist who was kidnapped in 1970 and whose remains were later found two decades later near a military barracks.
President Ricardo Martinelli says the apology to the family of leftist Heliodoro Portugal is “an unavoidable moral duty.”
Martinelli said Thursday that hundreds of Panamanians suffered the same fate during the dictatorship of Gen. Omar Torrijos, who ruled from 1968 until his death in 1981.
In 2009 the government accepted responsibility for Portugal’s disappearance and agreed to pay his family $256,000.
Portugal was last seen in May 1970. His remains were found in 1999 near a military barracks outside Panama City, the capital.
