human rights

Panama called to account by court

Heliodoro Portugal, was last seen alive in 1970 around the café Coca-Cola in the Santa Ana neighborhood of the city of Panama, where he was stopped by four members of General Omar Torrijos's National Guard, forced into a taxi, and "disappeared."

Portugal's daughter filed a criminal complaint against the state in May 1990, immediately after the reinstatement of representative democracy in Panama. Filing during the military regimes of General Torrijos or, later, Manuel Noriega was not possible.

But the case was closed just three years later. Investigations into the disappearance of the popular opposition leader were reopened in 1999, however, when Mr. Portugal's remains were found at a military base in Panama.

Now the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights wants to bring the state of Panama to justice regarding allegations that it is indeed culpable for Portugal's disappearance and death and for its failure to investigate and punish those responsible. However, Panama is expected to argue that the Inter-American Court on Human Rights lacks jurisdiction in the case at a hearing scheduled today in San Jose, Costa Rica, according to a source in the country's ministry of foreign affairs. In June 2007 Panama denied its responsibility for the alleged violations and also claimed it had not exhausted all domestic remedies.

The hearing has been scheduled for the ex-prosecutor in the case, José Antonio Sossa; the daughter of the disappeared leader, Patria Portugal; prosecutor Ana Matilde Gómez; and another witness whose name was not disclosed.

Panama has recognized the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights since 1990.