Page 23 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

INTRODUCTION

As the following pages will bear out, Omar Torrijos’s successors as
commanders of the Defense Forces and the civilians heading the alleged government
of the Republic of Panamá gave ample and convincing evidence at the time of the
1984 elections of following to a T the eminently dictatorial Torrijista axiom that “A
government’s first duty is not to let itself be toppled”. Or, to put it differently,
Panamanian military and civilian authorities took part, both directly and indirectly, in
the electoral fraud perpetrated before, during and after the elections of May 6, 1984.
This fraud resulted in the unlawful proclamation of Dr. Nicolás Ardito Barletta as
President Elect of the Republic, thus thwarting the decision of most Panamanians
who had cast their votes for Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid as President of the Republic of
Panamá.

How was the fraud committed? Where did they cheat? How many votes did
they steal? How did they steal them? This book seeks to answer these and other
questions thousands of Panamanians and many foreigners continue to ask themselves.

It should be stated at the outset that the electoral fraud studied in this book
was a crime different from run-of-the-mil crimes. No “smoking gun” here as
unmistakable evidence of guilt. Rather, there are many crimes of distinct types,
numerous violations of electoral laws; many small and mid-size frauds, so the speak,
that, when brought together, allow the loser to be proclaimed the winner. All these
criminal actions, taken as a whole, are the “smoking gun”, the incontrovertible
evidence of a vast electoral fraud.

Thus, although we shall speak of the “electoral fraud” in singular, the reader is
forewarned that this crime represents the sum of a significant number of violations of
the National Constitution and the Electoral Code.

This book is divided into three Chapters.

Chapter One deals with events before the elections, beginning with the
effective retirement of General Rubén Darío Paredes as Commander in Chief of the
National Guard and his subsequent and ephemeral attempt at a military candidacy.
The direct participation of the General Staff of the Defense Forces in the selection of
the official candidate, the pressure applied to civil servants, the abuse of government
power and influence, the control of the mass media, the make-up of the Electoral
Tribunal and its performance prior to May 6, 1984, shall be other points also covered
in this first chapter.

The elections themselves and the tallying of the votes are subject of Chapter
Two. This chapter includes an account of the different frauds perpetrated: the
dropping of opposition voters from official rosters, the buying of votes, the massive
and arbitrary challenges, the case of Circuit 4.4, the performance of the National