Floyd Britton

Floyd Britton, perhaps Panama's most important leftist leader of the twentieth century, came from a Black West Indian family that had gone to Panama for jobs, one of the two sources of Panama's Black population. A student leader from his days in secondary school, which he graduated in 1958, he participated in a failed guerrilla revolt the next year and enrolled in the University of Panama.

He quickly became a leader of the militant Revolutionary Action Movement (MAR) and the Federation of Students of Panama (FEP), organized anti-imperialist protests against U.S. colonialism, went to conferences in Cuba, and joined the People's Party, Panama's first and main Marxist party. Perhaps most significantly, Britton was one of the leaders of the protests that are today commemorated in the Day of the Martyrs holiday in 1964.

With politics heavily influenced both by Castro's revolution and Maoism, he broke with the People's Party forming one of two leftist sects. On October 11, 1968, a military coup took power bringing General Omar Torrijos to power, and within hours Britton was abducted by the National Guard and sent to the Coiba penal colony. Hundreds of other leftists were also captured at the demand of the CIA, most held for about a year. On November 29 1969, Britton was beaten to death on Coiba, according to numerous witnesses. Panama's governments have long refused to disclose what most suspect, and Britton's remains have never been found, although a search continues.

At the advent 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 is still a major leader of Panama's left, led by Britton's brother Federico Britton.