After the dissolution of the armed forces, the change was radical. The new public oath of subordination and loyalty to the President of the Republic marked a definitive break with the militarist past.
With scarce resources, Milton Castillo was part of the group of officers tasked with rebuilding what was left of the institution from the ashes. This is a historical paradox if one recalls that the same force had been represented by General Omar Torrijos in 1977 during the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, considered the great diplomatic battle for the sovereignty of the canal.
"We went from absolute destruction to the attempt at reconstruction, without resources, but with the conviction of not repeating the mistakes," he states.
A Warning for the Present
Looking back, Castillo asserts that the accumulation of political falsehoods led the country to the extreme of clamoring for an invasion from the same strategic partner with whom Panama maintained an exemplary international relationship.
Today, he warns, the country faces a different but equally dangerous risk: the systematic looting of public assets, which threatens to erode what he considers the nation's greatest pride: one territory and one flag.
"December 20 should not be remembered to feed hatred or military nostalgia, but to understand how far a country can go when it is governed by lies," he concludes.
An Impossible War and an Unarmed Troop
For the former officer, the armed forces were in no numerical, technological, or moral condition to face the most powerful army on the planet.
What happened, he maintains, was a cowardly betrayal of the Fatherland, disguised under a false nationalism that only left mourning, death, and pain.
Castillo is categorical: when then-commander Manuel Antonio Noriega declared war on the United States in the Legislative Assembly, the combat units were already disarmed.
"The troops were taken to their death without weapons, without a strategy, and without any real possibility of defense. That is not patriotism, it is criminal irresponsibility," he affirms.
The Silence of the Command and Political Complicity
Who failed more: the military command or the political power?
