Images: top CZimages.com; bottom: La Prensa
The act of joining the colorful marching bands of that year of 1952 gave a kid like me access to the needed elements to shine in my world of darkness. This would forever remain “my moment” regardless of whatever else happened in my life. Continue reading
El Cruce Building just before it was demolished in June 2009; in my youth it was all one-room rentals for Westindian families
San Ramon Building at the entrance of "M" Street.
The parade route had not left the Calidonia/Wachipali district as fast as we all anticipated, as the marching pace slowed down to a halt. As we stood there marking time we noticed how official functionaries were suddenly ahead of us. It seemed as though it had been planned that way, so that the large contingent of the National Police and Firemen or “red shirts” we all called the Bomberos, was now at rest in the midst of us school children on precisely this point on the parade route. Continue reading
This is the Monument at the entrance to Parque Porras. Statue of Belisario Porras is in the center.
As I walked to school I had started to experience for the second time in my life something I felt every kid I was seeing that morning felt deeply in the pit of his stomach. I walked briskly noticing the early morning crowd of kids dressed mostly in white uniforms as I had done the year before, some of them members of the various schools in the area. We were all to gather at our respective schools to organize ourselves in readiness for the big parade. Continue reading
Image: One of the helpful functionaries at Participación Ciudadana explaining to me the series of steps our Proyecto de Ley would go through.
Our Bill or Proyecto de Ley #348 will be up for a very important debate next week and we are calling for people to support us with their presence.
This past Tuesday morning I was cited by the Asamblea Nacional de Panamá Permanent Commission to appear on next Tuesday, January 24th, 2012 at 10 A.M at the Budget Commission (Comisión de Presupuesto) to make a presentation defending our projected Law# 348 (Proyecto de Ley #348) Declaring Patrimonio Histórico the 3 cemeteries on the Banks of the Panama Canal and Black Canal Zone, Corozal (Silver), Gatún, Mount Hope (Monte Esperanza) in Colon. Continue reading
This is an army jacket cut in the Eisenhower fashion, very similar to the way ours was cut, only ours was much more stylish.
In our last post we discussed the deep nationalistic sentiments inherent in most of us children from Panama’s barrios. But it was especially the Institutores who acquired the reputation for leading the Third of November marches in displaying their patriotism. Continue reading
Not as widely known Colon also had its martyrs.
We insist that the youngsters who were martyred on January 9, 1964 were not delinquents, nor rabble rousers nor vagabonds as many would have the world believe in an effort to blot out their memory. Continue reading
