As Torrijos analyzed the forces and circumstances that led to the December 15th uprising against him, his natural tendency to seek revenge softened with the overwhelming feeling that it was he in Panama that had to change.

He reacted with a sense of forgiveness that was fascinating for me to observe.

At the pinnacle of his career, here was a man who had the capacity to pardon his enemies.

Perhaps he was even more disposed to pardon his enemies than he was to forgive those closest to him.

He was very demanding of us.

This was the source of what is still known as Torrijismo.

What grew from the consolidation of Torrijos' power was a popular movement founded upon the idea that Panama had to change its ways.

Torrijismo became a national social program, a prescription for greater dignity and greater allegiance to labor, to the poor, to students, to people of color, all of whom never before had been a focus of concern from the wealthy power brokers.

Hand in hand with this social revolution came the idea that Panama needed to express its own independence.

And there was one focal point for our independence, a monument to Panama's existence and reason for being, there for all the world to see.

It was the narrow seaward passage that cuts two continents from Atlantic to Pacific.

The passage that has been the focus of American greed over our territory and our politics and our lives.