Crossfire Road

Many people that tell this story only do it basing on the facts of many, Pluralizing the scene and not paying keen attention to some of the particular stories that merged together, forming this sad part of our history.

My name is Arthur; being part of the Panamanian army seemed to be a good idea until the day of the invasion. I remember it as if it was yesterday; I was just about to take some riffles and guns to the headquarters in the city, since they used the base here at Rio Hato to store most of the weapons because of space when it all took place. I remember leaving home; I gathered with other members of the crew like always, my family has always lived on the road side, so my home used to be the place where we met. My mom made us breakfast that morning, the Christmas tree was already in the living room and the smell filled the air. I never expected my life to change that day…

We left, and when we were about to pass Coronado we were informed of what was taking place in the city, we were scared, at least I´m  sure that I was,  but we continued on the journey to take the weapons since we considered that they would be needed now more than ever. The road was becoming more lonely the further we went, and when we were about to go past the bridge, we were stopped by some American militaries.  They questioned us and started beating us, we fought as much as we could but they outnumbered us, we were only 5. They captured us and blind folded us, it was terrible. In that moment was sure that I was going to die.

Minutes passed and I could smell smoke, the scent got stronger and stronger. They took off our blind folds, only to show us how our city was burning. This filled me with anger and adrenaline, after many tries I managed to free myself, two of my crew members did so too; the rest was left in the vehicle but we promised to return. While I was crawling under cars and trucks parked on the streets to be safe, I saw a familiar house, it was my childhood friend´s house, her name was Omaida. As I saw the house burn, I worried and was about to run inside looking for her when I looked down the street and saw her crying desperately.  When I got closer I hugged her and tried to comfort her. We were looking at our burning city, sparks from the electrical wires and smoke that formed a grey cloud that covered the area, in was truly horrible and awful. when she was finally able to speak, she told me that what worried her the most was her brother Iraldo, “he is coming from Santiago driving a bus filled with passengers” she said , also that he was supposed to come in and spend the night so he could rest for the trip he hadbkng.g to make early the next day. We waited for an hour and still there was no sign of Iraldo. 

Iraldo was trapped inside the bus with all the passengers; he was more that worried because they were surrounded by Americans with guns. Inside the bus was a pregnant girl weeping, she was coming in the city after visiting her mom, who tried to convince her to stay but she stubbornly left for the city because she had to work. Iraldo decided to turn on the bus and take off, even though he was warned not to do so by the US militaries. He took off as fast as he could and all the passengers, and he managed to make it near the burning Chorrillo. As they all got off the bus, he helped the pregnant women and considered that the best thing to do would be to take her to his sister´s home instead of leaving her alone in the streets.  He helped her and they started to walk, trying to make themselves as least noticeable as they could…

Omaida and I were waiting, still staring at our surroundings when she saw him coming with the pregnant woman. As they got closer, she ran to hug him and started crying of happiness. The woman´s name was Gloria, she was 5 months pregnant and we knew that we had to protect her. We decided to leave the city, we saw many people being killed and we did not want to form a part of the perished group.

We found ourselves walking through the city, until we found an old military car that was left by the road, as I came closer I started recognizing the car, it was the car that brought me and the crew members.  The keys were there, we got in and we drove to Rio Hato. It was a moment of luck, and a moment that changed all our lives forever.