Zak Hernández

Who was Zak Hernández?

Sergeant Zak Hernández Laporte, was a 22-year-old member of the United States Army who was killed in action in Panama City when the Humvee in which he was riding was ambushed on the eve of U.S. President George H. W. Bush's visit to Panama. Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, son of Panamanian politician Gerardo González Vernaza, was accused of the murder but acquitted in 1997 in a trial in Panama. Two years later González Pinzón was elected to Panama's National Assembly and, in September 2007, was chosen by his peers as National Assembly President, an event which generated protests from the governments of the United States and Puerto Rico. This event also jeopardized U.S. Congress' ratification of a Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Panama, a pact that was previously ratified by Panama and was, until Pedro Miguel Gonzalez's elevation, considered likely to receive bipartisan Congressional approval.