Floyd Britton

Who was Floyd Britton?

Floyd Britton, perhaps Panama's most important leftist leader of the twentieth century, came from an immigrant black family that had gone to Panama for jobs. 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 and the Federation of Students of Panama, organized anti-imperialist protests against U.S. colonialism, went to conferences in Cuba, and joined the People's Party of Panama, 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.