Page 74 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

B. “Votes and Boots”

“Did you know that there are male and female votes? Well, there are… at least
in the case of PRD votes. There are she-votes and he-boots. And when you stuff them
in a ballot box and keep them overnight, they throw an orgy that makes Caligula look
like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Baby votes are born the following day, and,
in a few hours, they are grownups, looking just like adult votes. And so on and so on…
until Nicky wins”. “En Pocas Palabras”, La Prensa, May 11, 1984.

This witty article alluded to the case of Circuit 4-4, the most glaring of the
many frauds perpetrated by the regime during the 1984 presidential elections. This trick
directly involved dishonest military men and Electoral Tribunal officials at different
levels, including the two pro-government justices. It was a classic and traditional case
of vote stealing by night, accompanied by forged signatures and fingerprints. It was the
typical fraud committed by those “old politicians” the Torrijista regime never grew
tired of denouncing and who, ostensibly, were lined up with the opposition and not
with the PRD’s “revolutionary and progressive” ranks.

Circuit 4-4 includes the Guaymi Indian area, made up of the prefectures of
Tolé, San Félix, Remedios, and San Lorenzo, in the Province of Chiriquí. President
Illueca, visiting the area a few weeks before the elections, had publicly commented on
its dismal socioeconomic conditions and the neglect it had suffered from the central
government. It was to be expected, therefore, that people in Circuit 4-4 would not vote
for the pro-government candidate. Yet, the UNADE received around 7, 000 votes
against only 1,000 for the opposition. Obviously, another major fraud had been
perpetrated. La Prensa denounced it from its front page on May 11:

“UNADE Fraud in Indian Area”

After returns tally sheets for the Chiriquí Indian circuit

were stolen, a tally sheet turned up with a tampered total,
giving pro-government parties a more than 3,500 vote lead,

according to Amílcar Cerrud, Christian Democratic Party
(PDC, in Spanish), representative to the Circuit Return Board
of Quebrada del Guabo.

According to Cerrud, in the early hours of Wednesday,

May 9, the occupants of a dark brown automobile, bearing
license plate number 4-10911, stole the returns tally sheets for

Circuit 4-4, which includes the Chiriquí Indian area.

As of Tuesday morning, two tally sheets in possession of the

PDC were still to be considered. These were the tally sheets for

precincts 1240 and 1241 in Cascabel and Hato de Cotú, some 12
hours on horseback from the returns center. The remaining 64
That same day, at about 6:30 p.m., an Electoral Tribunal
tally sheets were being studied and their figures were being
helicopter landed at the area. Its occupants ordered that only