Pedro Miguel González Pinzón (born January 1, 1965) is a leading political figure in Panama who was tried and acquitted by a Panamian court of the June 10, 1992, killing of a US Army serviceman, Sgt.
In addition to serving as a deputy in the National Assembly, where he represented the province of Veraguas for the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), he served as President of the unicameral National Assembly from September 1, 2007, elected by a vote of 50-26 (defeating his rival Wigberto Quintero of the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement), until August 31, 2008.
[2] The murder occurred two-and-a-half years after the US invasion of Panama to depose military ruler Manuel Noriega, and just prior to a visit by US President George H. W.
The US State Department objected to the verdict, calling it "inconsistent with persuasive testimony by credible and disinterested witnesses as well as firearm and other physical evidence".
[7] After being elected twice to the National Assembly of Panama as a PRD candidate, González was selected by his party on September 1, 2007 to serve as the body's President.
[5] Gonzalez called his election in the face of US opposition a demonstration of Panamanian independence, stating, "The era in which the U.S. had the last word in determining who governed our nation and how they did so is over.
[5][8] However, González's backers stated that the US opposition to his leadership was another chapter in a long history of US interference in Panamanian affairs, and rejected it as inappropriate.
[5] President Martín Torrijos, a fellow PRD member who had negotiated the trade pact, made a private request for González to resign, but avoided publicly criticizing him.
González supported the action, stating that "All political sectors have wanted to cast a blanket of forgetfulness ... Maybe out of shame or for other reasons, but it isn't fair to all of those Panamanians that still lie in common graves.