PANAMA CITY.– The Council of the Naso Tjër Di indigenous region of Panama dethroned this Monday Reynaldo Alexis Santana, convicted of the rape of a minor, and named Ardinteo Santana, second in line of succession, as the new interim king, who will rule for an initial period of five years.
“Today (Monday, July 31) the meeting was held, where the Council Board proposes that Alexis is suspended, where he assumes the position of new king Ardinteo Santana”the president of the indigenous council, Ignacio Bonilla Torres, told EFE.
“Right now the new king Ardinteo Santana rules in the region,” he stressed.
The meeting was held in the King’s palace, located in the community of Siëy Shik, capital of the region, a place with difficult access and no telephone coverage near the Costa Rican border, so although the appointment of the new king was took in the early afternoon, the news took time to reach the outside.
Twenty members participated in the Council Assembly, made up of 32 community leaders, of whom 12 voted in favor of the suspension of Reynaldo Alexis Santana and eight abstained.
Ardinteo Santana, 63, received the crown of feathers, the throne and the scepter from the deposed king.
“They were satisfied that I stayed as the first king in the position of Mr. Alexis Santana”, that he was “dethroned from office,” the new monarch told EFE, who explained that initially his “interim” term will be five years, a time in which he hopes to fulfill the desire of the Naso people.
This decision comes after last week a court sentenced Reynaldo Alexis Santana to 5 years in prison for raping a minor. The events occurred in a town in the Naso region in 2016, when the victim was 12 years old, and after the minor’s confession, her mother filed the complaint.
In addition, the court disqualified him “to exercise public functions”. However, the court accepted the request to replace the sentence with community work, triggering strong outrage. The decision will be made on August 3 by a compliance judge.
The president of the indigenous council wanted to make it clear this Monday that, despite the popular outcry, which was asking for a “quick” sentence that would put an end to the reign of Alexis Santana as soon as possible, they had to follow a procedure, meet and analyze the situation, always putting the Constitution of Panama.
Bonilla Torres also regretted the numerous comments on social networks that “stain” her region, saying that what happened to the young woman is part of her “customs and traditions.”
“Please, respect our dignity, respect our region,” he insisted.
THE NASO PEOPLE
The Naso settle in the Naso Tjër Di region, a territory of approximately 1,600 kilometers between mountains and the Teribe located on the border with Costa Rica and near the Panamanian Caribbean. There are 5,000 Naso living there scattered in about twenty isolated villages in the exuberant jungle of Bocas de Toro.
The Naso people, one of the seven indigenous ethnic groups of Panama together with the Emberá, Wounaan, Guna, Ngäbe, Buglé and Bri-Bri, are organized in an “assembly monarchy” led by a king.
The throne used to pass from father to son, but for some years the subjects themselves are the ones who choose the monarch among the members of the royal family who decide to stand for “elections” and those who also have the power to remove him.
Reynaldo Alexis Santana competed in 2011 against a cousin and uncle, calling himself the “last indigenous king of the Americas.”
The victim of the rape, also originally from the Naso people, told EFE last week that she felt “bad and sad because justice was not done”, while she is “scared” because “she does not want to see that person.” According to her, Santana, on the throne since 2011, “tried” to rape her up to three times and threatened her.
«It was family, he lived behind our house. When I got home from school, I took off my uniform, I was alone and he called me. I trusted him because he was my uncle. I went, what happened happened. I didn’t want to, I was 12 years old,” said the victim, now 19.
