Hugo Spadafora Franco (September 6, 1940 – September 13, 1985) was an Italian and

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 Co ...

nian physician and guerrilla fighter in

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

. He criticized the military in

, which led to his murder by the government of

Manuel Noriega Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno (; February 11, 1934 – May 29, 2017) was a Panamanian dictator, politician and military officer who was the ''de facto'' ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989. An authoritarian ruler who amassed a personal f ...

in 1985.

Biography

Born in

Chitré Chitré () is a city and corregimiento, the capital of the Panamanian province of Herrera. with a population of 9,092 as of 2010, and a metropolitan area population of 80,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of Chitré District. Chitré is loca ...

, Spadafora was a physician, graduated from the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

, in Italy.Kinzer (2007: 242–244) He served as a combat medic with the independence guerrilla of Guinea-Bissau during the

Guinea-Bissau War of Independence The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence (), or the Bissau-Guinean War of Independence, was an armed independence conflict that took place in Portuguese Guinea from 1963 to 1974. It was fought between Portugal and the African Party for the Independe ...

. Originally a critic of the military regime headed by

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, ...

, he served as its Vice-Minister of Health. In 1978, he organized the

Victoriano Lorenzo Victoriano Lorenzo is considered one of the great heroes of Panamanian history, although his story and motives are sometimes debated by different sectors in his homeland. Born when the isthmus was still a part of Colombia, which was a part of th ...

Brigade, formed by a group of Panamanian fighters to fight against the

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Anastasio "Tachito" Somoza Debayle (; 5 December 1925 – 17 September 1980) was the President of Nicaragua from 1 May 1967 to 1 May 1972 and from 1 December 1974 to 17 July 1979. As head of the National Guard, he was ''de facto'' ruler of t ...

regime in Nicaragua. Concerned about the increased Soviet and

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 Caribb ...

n influence in the

Sandinista The Sandinista National Liberation Front ( es, Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas () in both English and Spanish. The party is named after Augusto C� ...

regime of Nicaragua and the delay of free elections, Spadafora joined the Sandino Revolutionary Front (FRS) alongside Edén Pastora ("Comandante Cero"), hero of the August 1978 seizure of Somoza's palace. The rise of

as authoritarian ruler of

compelled Spadafora to denounce Noriega's protection of

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalati ...

. Spadafora was detained by Noriega's forces when entering Panama from

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

in September 1985, and his decapitated body was later found stuffed in a post office bag. The autopsy later found Spadafora's stomach full of the blood he had ingested during the slow severing of his head. He had also endured hours of severe torture, as is quoted in

Gary Webb Gary Stephen Webb (August 31, 1955 – December 10, 2004) was an American investigative journalist. He began his career working for newspapers in Kentucky and Ohio, winning numerous awards, and building a strong reputation for investigative ...

's '' Dark Alliance'': "His body bore evidence of unimaginable tortures. The thigh muscles had been neatly sliced so he could not close his legs, and then something had been jammed up his rectum, tearing it apart. His testicles were swollen horribly, the result of prolonged garroting, his ribs were broken, and then, while he was still alive, his head had been sawed off with a butcher's knife." His head was never found. President

Nicolás Ardito Barletta Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

tried to set up a commission to investigate the murder but was forced to resign by Noriega, which increased suspicions that the military had ordered the beheading. It was not until the administration of President

Guillermo Endara Guillermo David Endara Galimany (May 12, 1936 – September 28, 2009) was a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1989 to 1994. Raised in a family allied to Panameñista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, Endara attended s ...

in 1989, that a court found Noriega (''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

'') and other followers guilty of a conspiracy to murder Spadafora. In 2014, his biography "Hugo Spadafora: Bajo la Piel del Hombre" was published by

Amir Valle Amir Valle Ojeda (born January 6, 1967), is a Cuban journalist, literary critic and writer. In the aftermath of his criticism of the Fidel Castro regime, he was prevented from returning to Cuba in 2006. He then decided to settle in Berlin, where ...

, a Cuban journalist, literary critic and writer exhiled in Germany.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spadafora, Hugo 1940 births 1985 deaths People from Chitré Panamanian people of Italian descent Panamanian military doctors Panamanian murder victims Panamanian activists Guerrilla warfare theorists Panamanian torturees People murdered in Panama People of the Nicaraguan Revolution Deaths by decapitation University of Bologna alumni