Rescuing missing pieces of history

PANAMA. Panama City’s mayoral race has taken many turns, with two out of three candidates scarred with name damaging allegations.

First, Panamanians were hit with the news that PRD candidate “Bobby” Velazquez’s campaign allegedly received funding from Colombian businessman David Murcia Guzman, and then with the shock of learning of Panameñista candidate Bosco Vallarino’s dual US - Panama citizenship.

The Electoral Tribunal will soon decide upon the legitimacy of Bosco Vallarino’s candidacy. But in the meantime, the campaign of the third contender, independent candidate Miguel Antonio Bernal, has been wrongly put on the light.

Online yesterday, there were a number of people believed to be from the Bosco Vallarino camp accusing Bernal of being a front man for the PRD.

Although the tenor of Bernal’s relationship with the dictatorship, which beat him nearly to death and twice drove him into exile, proves this allegation wrong, many fear Vallarino’s campaign tactic might work to dissuade uneducated voters, or voters too young to remember the truth.

As a response to these allegation, everyone, Panamanians citizens and residents alike, are invited to the Thursday night premiere of "Centavos de la Dignidad," a documentary on the life and times of attorney, human rights activist, journalist, professor and mayoral candidate Miguel Antonio Bernal.

“Centavos de la Dignidad” surveys important biographical aspects of Bernal’s life, developing within the framework of diverse Panamanian socio-political scenarios, starting in the 1950s, through January 9, 1964, the 21 years of the Torrijos-Noriega military dictatorship, and the December 1989 invasion of Panama up to today.

The movie offers several first-hand testimonies from people who were in the midst of these historical events, in order to rescue, not necessarily to the tune of the official history, little known facts about the country.

“Centavos de la Dignidad” will be screened at Extreme Planet at 7:00 p.m.

Although one must be a Panamanian citizen to vote for Bernal, one need not be Panamanian to come catch this film about this remarkable man who continues to fight for democracy and decency in Panama.