Today, June 9th, 2021, marks the 50th anniversary of the unlikely martyrdom of an extraordinary man, one of my greatest inspirations both professionally and personally. I'm talking about Colombian-born Panamanian priest Héctor Gallego, who on this day in 1971 bravely laid down his life fighting for a better world. I decided to inaugurate this blog by telling his amazing story.
Jesús Héctor Gallego Herrera was born on January 7th, 1938 in Salgar, Colombia, the eldest of 11 siblings. His parents were Horacio Gallego and Alejandrina Herrera. Not very much is known about his childhood, other that the fact that, from a very young age, he showed a strong inclination towards priesthood. He followed his vocation and entered seminary in 1963. In 1965, at the age of 27, Héctor was informed by one of his fellow seminarians, a Panamanian, about a serious lack of priests in the newly formed Diocese of Veraguas, Panama, where only nine men were available to render spiritual services to 160,000 souls. Since his bishop would not allow him to leave, two years later he had to establish himself as a deacon in San Francisco de Veraguas, before he could finally return to Colombia to be ordained as a priest on July 16, 1967. He was ordained by none other than the Bishop of Veraguas, Mons. Marcos Gregorio McGrath, who traveled to Medellín specifically for Héctor before taking him back to Panama. In 1967, the young priest arrived in Santa Fe de Veraguas, a small rural community of around 3.000 people. Santa Fe was a completely abandoned district, located in mountainous terrain and ravaged by the most dire poverty. The main income source was coffee picking, and the workers had no choice but to sell their products to the rich landowners of the area who, knowing they had nowhere else to go, bought them almost for nothing so they could sell them back to them at impossibly high prices. This created a semi-feudalist relationship that had existed since colonial times, in which the people of Santa Fe, mostly indigenous, were totally subjected and exploited in favor of the personal interests of the landowners. The consequences of this were obvious: nearly half the population was illiterate, half the children were malnourished and mortality rates from thing such as cholera, intestinal parasites and TB were extremely high. On the instructions of the bishop, Father Gallego founded and took over the parish of Santa Fe in 1968, creating base communities for the study of the Gospel.
Horrified by the living situation of the people in Santa Fe, Father Gallego soon became their most outspoken advocate. The priest would meet with the workers, listen to their points of view and bring the petitions to the government authorities, serving as a spokesperson for his entire community. This eventually lead to the foundation of the cooperative La Esperanza de los Campesinos ("The Hope of the Peasants"), in which he organized the people and taught them to fight for better working conditions, inspired by the Gospel, the social teachings of the Church and the then-newborn Liberation Theology. Over the next three years, Father Gallego continued his tireless work, becoming more and more well-known and loved amongst the people in Santa Fe, who had finally found an ally.
Unfortunately (and obviously), Father Gallego's constant complaints about institutionalized violence against the laborers did not sit well with the landowners of the area who, being related to dictator Omar Torrijos, were allied with government officials. In fact, they were the ones who had previously seized the land from the peasant communities and accentuated the exploitation of those who worked on their properties. This lead to a series of attacks taking place against Father Gallego, including an arrest, false accusations and non-stop death threats, but his close bond with Mons. McGrath proved to be a lifesaver each time he was in trouble. Finally, on May 23rd, 1971, members of the military police set fire to Father Gallego's hut, destroying it completely and forcing him to stay with his neighbors, who took turns taking him in. But instead of breaking his spirit, the incident only seemed to strengthen it, as the photo that accompanies this article shows him smiling in front of the charred remains of his home that very same day. This is when he realized that his mission may soon be cut short, so he then gathered the entired cooperative and told them what they had to do. He said to them:
"You know that they are already persecuting me and at any moment they may do something to me. This is why I tell you, the most important thing is the salvation of all men and women from the exploitation and slavery caused by the exploiters, and for this purpose we may have to die if necessary. This is the ultimate commitment of a Christian. If Christians settle, the Church dies".
Two weeks later, on the night of June 9th at about 11:30 P.M., a military vehicle parked in front of villager Jacinto Peña's house, where Father Gallego was staying for the day. Two men then got out of the car and started loudly banging on the door, shouting Jacinto's name. He got up, but seeing that they were in uniform he refused to open up. Father Gallego eventually answered the door and went outside, asking if he could help them. They said they were looking for Héctor Gallego and asked if he was there, to which he just replied: -"Well of course, I'm Héctor Gallego!". What followed is something witnessed only by Jacinto Peña: a brief word exchange, Father Gallego going back inside to put something on, being escorted to the Toyota Land Cruiser, a loud banging noise and two agonizing screams. The military officials then drove away with him. This was the last time Father Gallego was ever seen alive.
Following his dissapearance, the people of Santa Fe spent days and nights searching for him around the area, to no avail. Reports indicate that the men who kidnapped Father Gallego did not originally intend to kill him, but soon realized that the injuries they had caused him, most notably several skull fractures, were fatal. Following his murder, the leaders of Torrijo's regime decided to make the body dissappear, since they feared that, if it was found, the world would learn of the atrocities with which the military dictatorship was being handled, and a diplomatic conflict with the Vatican would be inevitable. And so, the young priest who had become a symbol of the fight for justice vanished into thin air, never to be found again. He was 33 years old, the same age as Jesus himself.
In 1999, bone fragments attributed to Father Gallego were found in an old military barrack in Tocumen, Panama. However, DNA testing later revealed that those remains actually belonged to Heliodoro Portugal, a political activist gone missing on the same year whose previously found remains are now believed to be Father Gallego's instead. Today, the results of the latest forensic examination have not been released to the public, so the case remains officially unsolved. As of the day this article gets published, Jacinto Peña is still alive and continues to lead the search, despite the years of bureaucratic delays of the Panamanian government and their obvious complicity.
"If I ever go missing, don't search for me. Keep fighting".
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