Floyd Britton (April 21, 1937 in Colon – November 29, 1969 in Coiba Island), one of

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

's most important

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

leaders of the twentieth century. He came from an immigrant black family that had come to Panama for better employment opportunities. A student leader from his days in secondary school, which he graduated in 1958, he participated in a failed guerrilla revolt the following year and then enrolled in the

University of Panama The University of Panama ( es, Universidad de Panamá) was founded on October 7, 1935. Initially, it had 175 students learning education, commerce, natural sciences, pharmacy, pre-engineering or law. , it had 74,059 students distributed in 228 b ...

. He quickly became a leader of the

militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) was a US-based revolutionary black nationalist group in operation from 1962 to 1969. They were the first group to apply the philosophy of Maoism to conditions of black people in the United States and informed ...

and of the Federation of Students of Panama (FEP), organized

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

protests against

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

, attended conferences in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, and joined the

People's Party of Panama People's Party of Panama ( es, Partido del Pueblo de Panamá, PPP) was a communist party in Panama. It was founded on 4 April 1930 as the Communist Party of Panama (''Partido Comunista de Panamá'', PCP), after Panamanian communists broke away fro ...

, Panama's first and main

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

party. Perhaps most significantly, Britton was one of the leaders of the protests in 1964 that are today commemorated in the Day of the Martyrs holiday. With politics heavily influenced both by

Castro Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''. ...

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

and

Maoism Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

, he broke with the People's Party, forming one of two leftist sects. On October 11, 1968, a

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such ...

took power bringing General

Omar Torrijos Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera (February 13, 1929 – July 31, 1981) was the Commander of the Panamanian National Guard and military leader of Panama from 1968 to his death in 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, ...

to power, and within hours Britton was abducted by the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

and sent to the

Coiba Coiba is the largest island in Central America, with an area of , off the Pacific coast of the Panamanian province of Chiriquí. It is part of the Tolé District of that province. History Coiba separated from continental Panama about 12,000 to ...

penal colony. Hundreds of other leftists were also arrested at the demand of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

, most held for about a year.

Death

On November 29, 1969, Britton was beaten to death on Coiba, according to numerous witnesses. Panama's governments have long refused to disclose any details, and Britton's remains have never been found, although a search continues.

Afterwards

At the commencement of the coup, Britton's political group merged with others to form the November 29 National Liberation Movement (MLN-29) which briefly engaged in armed struggle against the military regime.

MLN-29 The November 29 National Liberation Movement (in Spanish: ''Movimiento de Liberación Nacional 29 de noviembre'') (MLN-29) is a Marxist-Leninist party in Panama that was founded in 1970. The date in its name refers to the death of Panamanian com ...

is still a major leader of Panama's left, led by Britton's brother Federico Britton. Hundreds of political adversaries and civilians suffered the same fate as Britton during the regime's period in power, with the number being unknown.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Floyd 1937 births 1969 deaths Assassinated Panamanian politicians Maoists MLN-29 politicians Panamanian people of Nicaraguan descent Panamanian people of Colombian descent People from Colón, Panama People's Party of Panama politicians Politicians assassinated in the 1960s Deaths by beating