Beheading of Noriega opponent still haunts family

 
2,581Views 1Comments Posted 12/09/2014

TWENTY-NINE YEARS after the beheading in Panama of Doctor Hugo Padafora, the instigator of the crime sits in El Renacer Prison,Two other men have completed their sentences but none of the three has ever asked for for forgiveness.

It is something that haunts the doctor’s mother Stella Mejia de Spadafora, widow of Carmelo "Melo" Spadafora - the father of Hugo Mejía de Spadafora, 86, lives in Chitré, where the remains of Hugo share a grave with his fatherwho died two months after the beheading of his son.
La Prensa reports that Stella recalls that the blow was devastating for the family, and today, almost three decades later, the deaths still haunt her. "They have not asked forgiveness,", she said , referring to the men convicted of the murder.
On Sept. 13, 1985, Hugo Spadafora was beheaded. His body was found the next day, in the La Vaquita River in Costa Rica. His head was never found. He was 45 years old and an enemy of dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega.
On Oct. 20, 1993, Noriega, Francisco González Eliécer Bonilla and Julio César Miranda Caballero were each sentenced to 20 years in prison; Noriega as the instigator and the other two as perpetrators.
The sentence was confirmed on Dec. 20, 1995, by the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court.
In 2010, Bonilla and Caballero were released from prison. The following year, Noriega was extradited from France to begin serving his sentence at El Renacer Prison.
 



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