Panama's Censorship Board gave in to international pressure from human rights and media groups, journalists and other prominent individuals on March 18 by lifting its ban on the film The Panama Deception. The retreat came only hours before the film was publicly screened for the first time by the Sindicato del Periodista, Panama's journalists union.
The film, which chronicles the 1989 US invasion of Panama, was produced by the Empowerment Project, a California-based activist group. It looks critically at the US-installed Endara government and documents the strong anti-government climate in Panama today.
Barbara Trent, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary, said she is "thrilled that Panamanians can now see the film as it begins major new release in Panama". But she expressed deep concern that it took international pressure from several continents to bring it about. "Clearly", she said, "Panama's Censorship Board does not care about freedom of expression and it will continue to deny the Panamanian people their human rights once world attention is no longer focused on its oppressive policies".
More than 1000 people attended the first showing, including national and international media and labour, student and political leaders. There was continual applause throughout and a petition of support was circulated through the crowd for signatures, to counter efforts by government supporters to discredit the film before the March 29 Academy Award ceremony.
Said Trent, "It is critical that the film be seen in Panama but it is equally important that it be widely seen in the United States. The obstacles here, however, are also formidable." The Public Broadcasting Service in the United States has refused to give the film a national showing. This will confine the film to theatres and other small venues. In contrast, television networks in the United Kingdom, Japan, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain are keen to air it.
"The United States may not have the same type of governmentally controlled censorship as does Panama", said Trent, "but in the United States the consequences of pervasive corporate control and influence over the broadcast system, with only a small handful of people making TV broadcast decisions, are just as severe. It is a grave problem which needs immediate public and political attention."