Los Años De La Dictadura [REMASTERED] by Arcachata

In commemoration of the 20th of december, 1989, the day when United States government bombarded parts of my hometown Panamá City and ousted the country's de facto ruler, General Manuel Noriega, the Government of Panamá recently decreed this date as a National Day of Mourning, to be commemorated yearly.

Panamá's citizens would do well not to regard this event in isolation. Preceding the U.S. invasion, Panamá went through over 21 years of military dictatorship. The dictatorship in turn was the result of years of questionable leadership and politics and a self-serving ruling elite and political class.

The way things are going today, almost 33 years later, it would seem these lessons were collectively not learned to the extent that they probably should have.
"Aquellos que no pueden recordar el pasado están condenados a repetirlo."
(Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.)
-George Santayana

The song uses part of a melody by Avelino Muñoz and drags it across the entire length of the song. The melody is part of a piece of Baile Típico, one of the main genres of Panamanian music, on which in turn the main theme of RPC, one of the country's regime-sanctioned TV stations during late 70's and 80's -- the heart of the dictatorship era -- was based. The theme was thusly ever-present during those years that I was growing up and to me thusly almost synonymous with that dark yet wondrous time.