Hugo Spadafora: Difference between revisions
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==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
Born in [[Chitré]], Spadafora was a physician, graduated from the [[University of Bologna]], in Italy.<ref name="Kinzer242">Kinzer (2007: 242–244)</ref> He served as a combat medic with the independence guerrilla of Guinea-Bissau during the [[Guinea-Bissau War of Independence]].<ref name="Kinzer242"/> Originally a critic of the military regime headed by [[Omar Torrijos]], he served as its Vice-Minister of Health. In 1978, he organized the [[Victoriano Lorenzo]] Brigade, formed by a group of up to 1,200 Panamanian fighters to fight against the [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle]] regime in Nicaragua.<ref>{{cite report|last=Weathers, Jr.|first=Bynum E.|date=1983|title=Guerrilla Warfare in Nicaragua, 1975-1979|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA148248.pdf|publisher=[[Air University (United States Air Force)|Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education]]|page=37|access-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/850812/summary|title=Omar Torrijos and the Sandinista Revolution|last=Brown|first=Jonathan C.|journal=The Latin Americanist|year=2022|volume=66|pages=25–45|doi=10.1353/tla.2022.0003|s2cid=247623108|url-access=subscription}}</ref> | Born in [[Chitré]], Spadafora was a physician, who graduated from the [[University of Bologna]], in Italy.<ref name="Kinzer242">Kinzer (2007: 242–244)</ref> He served as a combat medic with the independence guerrilla of Guinea-Bissau during the [[Guinea-Bissau War of Independence]].<ref name="Kinzer242"/> Originally a critic of the military regime headed by [[Omar Torrijos]], he served as its Vice-Minister of Health. In 1978, he organized the [[Victoriano Lorenzo]] Brigade, formed by a group of up to 1,200 Panamanian fighters to fight against the [[Anastasio Somoza Debayle]] regime in Nicaragua.<ref>{{cite report|last=Weathers, Jr.|first=Bynum E.|date=1983|title=Guerrilla Warfare in Nicaragua, 1975-1979|url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA148248.pdf|publisher=[[Air University (United States Air Force)|Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education]]|page=37|access-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/850812/summary|title=Omar Torrijos and the Sandinista Revolution|last=Brown|first=Jonathan C.|journal=The Latin Americanist|year=2022|volume=66|pages=25–45|doi=10.1353/tla.2022.0003|s2cid=247623108|url-access=subscription}}</ref> | ||
Concerned about the increased Soviet and [[Cuba]]n influence in the [[Sandinista]] regime of Nicaragua and the delay of free elections, Spadafora joined the [[Sandino Revolutionary Front]] (FRS) alongside [[Edén Pastora]] ("Comandante Cero"), hero of the August 1978 seizure of the National Palace in Nicaragua. The rise of [[Manuel Noriega]] as authoritarian ruler of [[Panama]] compelled Spadafora to denounce Noriega's protection of [[Illegal drug trade|drug trafficking]]. Spadafora was detained by Noriega's forces when entering Panama from [[Costa Rica]] in September 1985, and his decapitated body was later found stuffed in a post office bag.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> The autopsy later found Spadafora's stomach full of the blood he had ingested during the slow severing of his head.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> He had also endured hours of severe torture, as is quoted in [[Gary Webb]]'s ''[[Dark Alliance (book)|Dark Alliance]]'': "His body bore evidence of unimaginable tortures. The thigh muscles had been neatly sliced so he could not close his legs, and then something had been jammed up his rectum, tearing it apart. His testicles were swollen horribly, the result of prolonged garroting, his ribs were broken, and then, while he was still alive, his head had been sawed off with a butcher's knife."<ref>{{cite book|last=Webb|first=Gary|year=1999|pages=227|title=[[Dark Alliance (book)|Dark Alliance]]|publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]]|isbn=978-1-888363-93-7}}</ref> His head was never found.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> President [[Nicolás Ardito Barletta]] tried to set up a commission to investigate the murder but was forced to resign by Noriega, which increased suspicions that the military had ordered the beheading.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> | Concerned about the increased Soviet and [[Cuba]]n influence in the [[Sandinista]] regime of Nicaragua and the delay of free elections, Spadafora joined the [[Sandino Revolutionary Front]] (FRS) alongside [[Edén Pastora]] ("Comandante Cero"), hero of the August 1978 seizure of the National Palace in Nicaragua. The rise of [[Manuel Noriega]] as authoritarian ruler of [[Panama]] compelled Spadafora to denounce Noriega's protection of [[Illegal drug trade|drug trafficking]]. Spadafora was detained by Noriega's forces when entering Panama from [[Costa Rica]] in September 1985, and his decapitated body was later found stuffed in a post office bag.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> The autopsy later found Spadafora's stomach full of the blood he had ingested during the slow severing of his head.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> He had also endured hours of severe torture, as is quoted in [[Gary Webb]]'s ''[[Dark Alliance (book)|Dark Alliance]]'': "His body bore evidence of unimaginable tortures. The thigh muscles had been neatly sliced so he could not close his legs, and then something had been jammed up his rectum, tearing it apart. His testicles were swollen horribly, the result of prolonged garroting, his ribs were broken, and then, while he was still alive, his head had been sawed off with a butcher's knife."<ref>{{cite book|last=Webb|first=Gary|year=1999|pages=227|title=[[Dark Alliance (book)|Dark Alliance]]|publisher=[[Seven Stories Press]]|isbn=978-1-888363-93-7}}</ref> His head was never found.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> President [[Nicolás Ardito Barletta]] tried to set up a commission to investigate the murder but was forced to resign by Noriega, which increased suspicions that the military had ordered the beheading.<ref name="Kinzer242"/> | ||
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[[Category:People from Chitré]] | [[Category:People from Chitré]] | ||
[[Category:Panamanian people of Italian descent]] | [[Category:Panamanian people of Italian descent]] | ||
[[Category:Panamanian | [[Category:Military doctors]] | ||
[[Category:Panamanian physicians]] | |||
[[Category:Panamanian murder victims]] | [[Category:Panamanian murder victims]] | ||
[[Category:Panamanian activists]] | [[Category:Panamanian activists]] | ||
Latest revision as of 15:22, 14 July 2025
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Hugo Spadafora Franco (September 6, 1940 – September 13, 1985) was a Panamanian physician and guerrilla fighter in Guinea-Bissau and Nicaragua.[1] He criticized the military in Panama, which led to his murder by the government of Manuel Noriega in 1985.[1]
Biography
Born in Chitré, Spadafora was a physician, who graduated from the University of Bologna, in Italy.[1] He served as a combat medic with the independence guerrilla of Guinea-Bissau during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence.[1] Originally a critic of the military regime headed by Omar Torrijos, he served as its Vice-Minister of Health. In 1978, he organized the Victoriano Lorenzo Brigade, formed by a group of up to 1,200 Panamanian fighters to fight against the Anastasio Somoza Debayle regime in Nicaragua.[2][3]
Concerned about the increased Soviet and Cuban influence in the Sandinista regime of Nicaragua and the delay of free elections, Spadafora joined the Sandino Revolutionary Front (FRS) alongside Edén Pastora ("Comandante Cero"), hero of the August 1978 seizure of the National Palace in Nicaragua. The rise of Manuel Noriega as authoritarian ruler of Panama compelled Spadafora to denounce Noriega's protection of drug trafficking. Spadafora was detained by Noriega's forces when entering Panama from Costa Rica in September 1985, and his decapitated body was later found stuffed in a post office bag.[1] The autopsy later found Spadafora's stomach full of the blood he had ingested during the slow severing of his head.[1] He had also endured hours of severe torture, as is quoted in Gary Webb's Dark Alliance: "His body bore evidence of unimaginable tortures. The thigh muscles had been neatly sliced so he could not close his legs, and then something had been jammed up his rectum, tearing it apart. His testicles were swollen horribly, the result of prolonged garroting, his ribs were broken, and then, while he was still alive, his head had been sawed off with a butcher's knife."[4] His head was never found.[1] President Nicolás Ardito Barletta tried to set up a commission to investigate the murder but was forced to resign by Noriega, which increased suspicions that the military had ordered the beheading.[1]
The brutality of the murder shocked many and it was a contributing factor to the deterioration of relations between the US and Noriega. Four years after the murder, the US under president George H. W. Bush overthrew Noriega by invading Panama in 1989.
It was not until the administration of President Guillermo Endara in 1989, that a court found Noriega (in absentia) and other followers guilty of a conspiracy to murder Spadafora.
In 2013, his biography Hugo Spadafora: Bajo la Piel del Hombre was published by Amir Valle, a Cuban journalist, literary critic and writer exiled in Germany.[5]
Notes
References
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- 1940 births
- 1985 deaths
- People from Chitré
- Panamanian people of Italian descent
- Military doctors
- Panamanian physicians
- Panamanian murder victims
- Panamanian activists
- Guerrilla warfare theorists
- Panamanian torturees
- People murdered in Panama
- People of the Nicaraguan Revolution
- Deaths by decapitation
- University of Bologna alumni