* " Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Panama ", by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, 1978, describes human rights violations by the Torrijos regime.

Originally a critic of the military regime headed by Omar Torrijos, he served as its Vice-Minister of Health.

According to The New York Times, the day after the U. S. Senate ratified the treaty, Torrijos declared that his regime had contingency plans to sabotage the Canal if ratification had failed.

During the period when party politics were effectively banned by the Omar Torrijos government ( 1968 – 1978 ), the Christian Democrats opposed the military regime and calls for a civilian-ruled democracy.

Panama, during the military dictatorships of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega, was nominally a presidential republic.

He received a promotion to lieutenant colonel and was appointed chief of military intelligence by Omar Torrijos.

Omar Torrijos was succeeded as Commander of the Panamanian National Guard by Colonel Florencio Flores Aguilar.

Noriega, like Torrijos, was dark-skinned and claimed to represent the majority population who were poor and of Zambo heritage ( mixed African and Amerindian ancestry ).

Torrijos thrust Martínez aside in 1969, promoted himself to brigadier general, and was de facto ruler of the country until his death in a 1981 plane crash.

Torrijos was eventually replaced by Manuel Noriega, who merged all of Panama's armed forces under his command as the Panamanian Defense Forces.

Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera ( February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981 ) was the Commander of the Panamanian and National Guard and the de facto leader of Panama from 1968 to 1981.

Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, but instead held titles including " Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution " and " Supreme Chief of Government.

His son Martín Torrijos was elected president and served from 2004 to 2009.

Torrijos was born in Santiago in the province of Veraguas, the sixth of twelve children.

His father, José Maria Torrijos, was originally from Colombia, and was employed as a teacher.

The Torrijos government was well known for its policies of land redistribution.

Although a two-man junta was appointed, Martinez and Torrijos were the true leaders from the beginning.

Soon after the coup, Torrijos was promoted to full colonel and named commandant of the National Guard.

Torrijos was regarded by his supporters as the first Panamanian leader to represent the majority population of Panama, which is poor, Spanish-speaking, and of mixed heritage – as opposed to the light-skinned social elite, often referred to as rabiblancos (" white-tails "), who had long dominated the commerce and political life of Panama.

The ratification ceremony at Fort Clayton was somewhat of an embarrassment for Torrijos.

On the debit side, Torrijos was extremely intolerant of political opposition.

The crash site was located several days later, and the body of General Torrijos was recovered by a Special Forces team in the first few days of August.

Following a large state funeral, Torrijos ' body was briefly buried in a cemetery in Casco Viejo ( the Old City of Panama ), before being moved to a mausoleum in the former Canal Zone on Fort Amador near Panama City.

For instance, in pre-trial hearings in Miami in May 1991, Manuel Noriega's attorney, Frank Rubino, was quoted as saying " General Noriega has in his possession documents showing attempts to assassinate General Noriega and Mr. Torrijos by agencies of the United States.

More recently, former businessman John Perkins alleges in his book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, that Torrijos was assassinated by American interests, who had a bomb planted aboard his aircraft ( by CIA organized operatives ).

The name of the airport was changed in 1981 by the military government for Omar Torrijos International Airport, in honor to the Panamanian leader who died in July 31, 1981, at the age of 52 in a plane crash in Cerro Marta, Coclesito in very bad conditions.

Many of the nation's leftists, pointing to a similar crash that had killed Panamanian President Omar Torrijos Herrera less than three months later, blamed the United States government.

Supporters of Noriega referred to the Civic Crusade as a creature of the rabiblancos or " white-tails ", the wealthy elite of European extraction that dominated Panamanian commerce and that had dominated Panamanian politics before the advent of Torrijos.

He had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1966 and in 1968 he and Major Boris Martínez led a successful coup d ' état against the recently elected president of Panama, Arnulfo Arias, after only eleven days in office, when he tried to order Torrijos to a foreign post.

He also restored some civil liberties ; U. S. President Jimmy Carter had told him that the Senate would never approve the Canal treaties unless Torrijos made some effort to liberalize his rule.

Arias had made the mistake of trying to send military leader Omar Torrijos to a foreign position which Torrijos felt he would lose money from uncollected bribes.

Moscoso stated that the pardons had been motivated by her mistrust of Torrijos, saying, " I knew that if these men stayed here, they would be extradited to Cuba and Venezuela, and there they were surely going to kill them there.

Torrijos and the PRD were ultimately hampered by the corruption scandals of the previous administration, as well as a scandal in which La Prensa reported that two members of his campaign had been bribed by Mobil to sell a former US military base.

Torrijos ' primary rival was Guillermo Endara, who had served as president from 1990 to 1994.

Moscoso stated that the pardons had been motivated by her mistrust of Torrijos, saying, " I knew that if these men stayed here, they would be extradited to Cuba and Venezuela, and there they were surely going to kill them there.

The political pressure made by Torrijos Nationwide and Worldwide to the United States, were viewed as Nationalist and is listed as one of the greatest leaders Panama has ever had, along with Arnulfo Arias Madrid ( although he was taken from office three times ).

Spadafora told Torrijos once that Noriega was working for the CIA that they had a plot against him.

Although Torrijos was not democratically elected as he had seized power in a coup in 1968, it is generally considered that he had widespread support in Panama to justify his signing of the treaties.

In August 1990, the Chicago Tribune reported that documents captured by the U. S. military revealed that Torrijos had asked Manuel Noriega to prepare such plans.

Economic historian Niall Ferguson writes in his book The Ascent of Money that Perkins's contention that the leaders of Ecuador ( President Jaime Roldós Aguilera ) and Panama ( General Omar Torrijos ) were assassinated by US agents for opposing the interests of the owners of their countries ' foreign debt " seems a little odd " in light of the fact that in the 1970s the amount of money that the US had lent to Ecuador and Panama accounted for less than 0. 4 % of the total US grants and loans, while in 1990 the exports from the US to those countries accounted for approximately 0. 4 % of the total US exports ( approximately $ 8 billion ).

* July 31 – The leader of Panamas military dictatorship, General Omar Torrijos Herrera, dies along with all six other people on board when a Panamanian Air Force de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes into Marta Hill while trying to land at Coclesito, Panama, in bad weather.

* On July 31, 1981, a Panamanian Air Force ( FAP-205 ) DHC-6 crashed during flight, killing all seven people on board including President Omar Torrijos ( see Panamanian Air Force FAP-205 crash ).