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Getting To Know The General: The Story Of An Involvement
'In August 1981 my bag was packed for my fifth visit to Panama when the news came to me over the telephone of the death of General Omar Torrijos Herrera, my friend and host. . . At that moment the idea came to me to write a short personal memoir. . . of a man I had grown to love over those five years' GETTING TO KNOW THE GENERAL is Graham Greene's account of a five-year personal involvement with Omar Torrijos, ruler of Panama from 1968-81 and Sergeant Chuchu, one of the few men in the National Guard whom the General trusted completely. It is a fascinating tribute to an inspirational politician in the vital period of his country's history, and to an unusual and enduring friendship.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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806 people want to read
About the author
Graham Greene
814 books6,221 followersHenry Graham Greene was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century.
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a reputation early in his lifetime as a major writer, both of serious Catholic novels, and of thrillers (or "entertainments" as he termed them). He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times. Through 67 years of writing, which included over 25 novels, he explored the conflicting moral and political issues of the modern world. The Power and the Glory won the 1941 Hawthornden Prize and The Heart of the Matter won the 1948 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and was shortlisted for the Best of the James Tait Black. Greene was awarded the 1968 Shakespeare Prize and the 1981 Jerusalem Prize. Several of his stories have been filmed, some more than once, and he collaborated with filmmaker Carol Reed on The Fallen Idol (1948) and The Third Man (1949).
He converted to Catholicism in 1926 after meeting his future wife, Vivienne Dayrell-Browning. Later in life he took to calling himself a "Catholic agnostic". He died in 1991, aged 86, of leukemia, and was buried in Corseaux cemetery in Switzerland. William Golding called Greene "the ultimate chronicler of twentieth-century man's consciousness and anxiety".
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September 9, 2022
Just recently, I visited Calcutta, the city where my family, even my wife, were born. It is by no means a city dearer to me than Bombay, though there are still those old buildings of the times of the British Raj that still lend its overcrowded, almost exasperating atmosphere a sense of fine dignity. But on my two-hour flight in the early hours of the morning, the book that I could think of reading again was this slim little book, utterly enjoyable, insightful and even seriously political from cover to cover. Somehow, the feeling of reading Greene, as in many other occasions and incidents in one's daily life, in a journey is even more special - he really had the knack of taking along the reader on a separate journey, perhaps to some other, more exotic destination and yet the feelings that he expressed or shared, of wanderlust and exhaustion, of the thrill of discovering something unexpected and the tiredness that came at the end of a long day, were all that the reader can always relate to perfectly.
"Getting To Know The General" is not really a travel book, to be honest though. Yes, indeed, Greene takes us on a vivid, picturesque and even mesmerising trip of Panama in the 1970s - he even addresses his own fascination with Spain and Latin America in his charming prologue and what we end up discovering is also his deep-rooted fascination with a sense of danger, of the stakes of life and death. And even as it does follow Greene as he explores the beauty of this country, both eye-widening and stark, both spectacular and desolate, this is more of what it says in its title - a book about Greene's experiences and relationship with a real person. The General of the book is General Omar Torrijos, the charismatic and shrewd yet impossibly idealistic leader of the National Guard who rose up in arms against the American-sponsored regime of Flores and contested USA's entitlement over the Canal.
The result of that was, as we would all know, the Torrijos - Carter treaty that finally paved the way for a gradual but steady removal of American influence from the region. The treaty was hotly contested by American politicians themselves and on the other hand, the General's own followers demanded that he would put his foot down and resort to military action. This is of course, even as factual, one more of the classic moral and political conundrums that are usually to be found in all of Greene's work as a novelist and the veteran storyteller masterfully flits between sides, even as his sympathies lie strongly with Torrijos and portrays, by raising urgent questions and moral queries, just how difficult it is to carry on a revolution that would bring a truly positive consequence for those involved. Sadly before one could arrive at answers or before matters could reach a head, as they did eventually, Torrijos died mysteriously in an aeroplane crash.
The book, however, is surprisingly tender and light, even as it nimbly and assuredly navigates the political significance and geographical extent of Panama in the most effortlessly compelling way possible. At the heart of its account is a deeply human, unexpectedly hilarious and even poignant story of friendship, not just between the charismatic yet melancholic General and the curious and almost spell-bound Greene, still a romantic in his venerable seventies, but also between a bemused and twinkle-eyed Greene and an even more enigmatic and melancholic Sergeant Chuchu, the General's most trusted right-hand man. "Getting To Know The General" is part travelogue, part road novel, part political commentary and part biography and Greene blends all these things so skilfully without ever compromising on his finely chiseled yet evocative prose and his gift for economy that the book has something for every reader - even someone with no prior knowledge of politics or even Greene would be delighted because above all, this is also a book about storytelling, about the narratives that build in our mind by our associations and conversations.
Rediscovering this book had been a most delightful experience. There is a reason why I keep on returning to Greene, even as other writers intrigue and hold me in thrall. Greene has provided me already with something akin to a second home; in the musty smell of those old paperback editions of his novels, in the boundless compassion of his humanism and in his capacity for both wit and suspense, I have found a comfortable and reassuring refuge where one could be understood, sympathized and at peace with oneself while an old and dignified storyteller keeps one entertained throughout the solitude of days and nights.
"Getting To Know The General" is not really a travel book, to be honest though. Yes, indeed, Greene takes us on a vivid, picturesque and even mesmerising trip of Panama in the 1970s - he even addresses his own fascination with Spain and Latin America in his charming prologue and what we end up discovering is also his deep-rooted fascination with a sense of danger, of the stakes of life and death. And even as it does follow Greene as he explores the beauty of this country, both eye-widening and stark, both spectacular and desolate, this is more of what it says in its title - a book about Greene's experiences and relationship with a real person. The General of the book is General Omar Torrijos, the charismatic and shrewd yet impossibly idealistic leader of the National Guard who rose up in arms against the American-sponsored regime of Flores and contested USA's entitlement over the Canal.
The result of that was, as we would all know, the Torrijos - Carter treaty that finally paved the way for a gradual but steady removal of American influence from the region. The treaty was hotly contested by American politicians themselves and on the other hand, the General's own followers demanded that he would put his foot down and resort to military action. This is of course, even as factual, one more of the classic moral and political conundrums that are usually to be found in all of Greene's work as a novelist and the veteran storyteller masterfully flits between sides, even as his sympathies lie strongly with Torrijos and portrays, by raising urgent questions and moral queries, just how difficult it is to carry on a revolution that would bring a truly positive consequence for those involved. Sadly before one could arrive at answers or before matters could reach a head, as they did eventually, Torrijos died mysteriously in an aeroplane crash.
The book, however, is surprisingly tender and light, even as it nimbly and assuredly navigates the political significance and geographical extent of Panama in the most effortlessly compelling way possible. At the heart of its account is a deeply human, unexpectedly hilarious and even poignant story of friendship, not just between the charismatic yet melancholic General and the curious and almost spell-bound Greene, still a romantic in his venerable seventies, but also between a bemused and twinkle-eyed Greene and an even more enigmatic and melancholic Sergeant Chuchu, the General's most trusted right-hand man. "Getting To Know The General" is part travelogue, part road novel, part political commentary and part biography and Greene blends all these things so skilfully without ever compromising on his finely chiseled yet evocative prose and his gift for economy that the book has something for every reader - even someone with no prior knowledge of politics or even Greene would be delighted because above all, this is also a book about storytelling, about the narratives that build in our mind by our associations and conversations.
Rediscovering this book had been a most delightful experience. There is a reason why I keep on returning to Greene, even as other writers intrigue and hold me in thrall. Greene has provided me already with something akin to a second home; in the musty smell of those old paperback editions of his novels, in the boundless compassion of his humanism and in his capacity for both wit and suspense, I have found a comfortable and reassuring refuge where one could be understood, sympathized and at peace with oneself while an old and dignified storyteller keeps one entertained throughout the solitude of days and nights.
July 31, 2015
Getting To Know The General is a little known out-of-print nonfiction book by one of my favorite writers, Graham Greene. The story begins in 1976 when Greene inexplicably receives an invitation to visit Panama as the guest of then ruler General Omar Torrijos Herrar. He immediately accepts knowing only of Panama from the exploits of the pirate Henry Morgan and the mysterious death of Francis Drake in the area. In the process he becomes an intimate friend of the ruler and his fascinating friend/body guard-Chuchu, a former professor, soldier, pilot, and lothario with scores of ex-lovers and children. He will visit the country five times between 1976 and 1983. The beginning of the book is rife with tension as the General negotiates a treaty for the hand over of the Panama Canal with then President Jimmy Carter. From there the politics of South America and Central America have a routine background role in the story as it was a time of dictators and revolts in Latin America-many of them with unwanted intervention by the US through the CIA and other means. Even though politics play an important background role in Greene's travels, discussions, and meetings with the General-it is also a travelogue. Greene has been an intrepid traveler all of his life, thus every time he visits he is trying to see as much of the country as possible and as I read I would read up about each place and region he visited in my Panama Lonely Planet, because I will be limited to the area near Panama City since I don't have the time Greene had nor the use of the General's military planes. The novel also hints at personal problems Green had in France at the time as well as his struggles to write a novel about his experiences in Panama, which I believe would have made a fine novel-so instead we get this unclassifiable and intriguing short book instead. Even after the General dies Greene makes one final visit to Panama at the behest of Chuchu and the new administration. The later part of the book becomes more focused on the politics of the region and bears some resemblance to Salaman Rushdie's book about Nicaragua at a similar time, The Jaguar's Smile. Inexplicably, "that book" is still in print while sadly, this one is not. I think Greene is a more major writer than Rushdie and the cast of real life characters who populate the book are larger than life as well: Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, every Latin America leader of state from the time period including Fidel Castro and the soon to be infamous Manuel Noriega, Arthur Koestler, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Thus I think it would be of greater interest to the general public than Rushdie's. Needless to say I was happy to have been able to find a copy since it added a lot of enjoyment to my first journey to Panama.
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February 11, 2023ترجمه این اثر با عنوان "مردی که من شناختم" چاپ شده و خواندن آن توصیه نمیشود
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January 31, 2025
How timely to have found a copy of this now that a certain American criminal is threatening to seize control of the Panama Canal. This is one of Graham Greene's works of nonfiction and in it he makes several trips to Panama at the invitation of Panamanian dictator General Omar Torrijos Herrera, who was responsible for negotiating the Torrijos-Carter Treaties which, in 1999, finally gave Panama full control of the Panama Canal.
Over several years in the 1970s, Greene—spoiler alert—gets to know General Torrijos as well as explore Panama and the surrounding region. Slaked by innumerable rum punches, Greene visits copper mines and haunted houses and banana plantations and makes several excursions into Central American politics. His guide is Chuchu, former Marxist professor and member of the General's inner circle, and we arguably get to know as much about him as about the General.
Joan Didion wrote several works of fiction and nonfiction centred on Central America at roughly the same time (Salvador, The Last Thing He Wanted) and although there is definite intersection between this work and Didion's, Greene is generally the lightness to Didion's darkness, with Panana having become a patch of stability in a perpetually troubled region.
Many of Greene's travels were undertaken as research for one or another of his novels, but his trips to Panama were largely for pleasure (he occasionally had to play diplomat). He does begin to conjure up a novel set in Panama which would never see the light of day, but this is not a journal kept as background for that novel like some of his other nonfiction, and it does not disappoint.
Over several years in the 1970s, Greene—spoiler alert—gets to know General Torrijos as well as explore Panama and the surrounding region. Slaked by innumerable rum punches, Greene visits copper mines and haunted houses and banana plantations and makes several excursions into Central American politics. His guide is Chuchu, former Marxist professor and member of the General's inner circle, and we arguably get to know as much about him as about the General.
Joan Didion wrote several works of fiction and nonfiction centred on Central America at roughly the same time (Salvador, The Last Thing He Wanted) and although there is definite intersection between this work and Didion's, Greene is generally the lightness to Didion's darkness, with Panana having become a patch of stability in a perpetually troubled region.
Many of Greene's travels were undertaken as research for one or another of his novels, but his trips to Panama were largely for pleasure (he occasionally had to play diplomat). He does begin to conjure up a novel set in Panama which would never see the light of day, but this is not a journal kept as background for that novel like some of his other nonfiction, and it does not disappoint.
July 14, 2016
I've been reading quite a few books by Graham Greene over the past few years. Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement was one of his later books and the 3rd book of non-fiction of his that I've read. It is about General Omar Torrijos Herrera, the leader of Panama in the '70s, who was killed in a plane crash in 1981. Greene was invited to Panama to meet him, in 1976 and the two became friends over the next years. As well, it is also a book about Torrijos, friend and confidante, Chucho, who is the go-between and constant companion of Greene on his visits to Panama. Greene has a wonderful way of telling stories, whether fiction or non-fiction. You can feel the genuine affection he feels for the country and Torrijos and Chucho. He travels considerably during his brief visits to Panama, often accompanying Torrijos to other countries or representing him; to Nicaragua, Cuba, even the US. I'm constantly amazed at the access that he gains in this book and the places he has visited over the course of his life. Most interesting book.
January 31, 2008
I think Graham Greene was 80 when this book was published. Early on, maybe in the introduction, he says that the book is more about getting to know Omar Torrijos's security guard, the improbably named Chuchu, than it was about getting to know the general himself. Though Chuchu and Torrijos are invariably charming, it's the narrator, in the gloaming of his life, who steals the show. I am certain that was unintentional. But only through the eyes of someone capable of immense charm, adventure, and, most of all, love, can a reader experience those things in his characters.
Anyway, I ended the book sad and in love with all three of them. Plenty of politics, but in a soft, background way. At one point, Greene posits that socialism is just what happens when good-hearted kids grow up and get power.
My favorite paragraph has to do with a bird that sings only when with its mate.
Anyway, I ended the book sad and in love with all three of them. Plenty of politics, but in a soft, background way. At one point, Greene posits that socialism is just what happens when good-hearted kids grow up and get power.
My favorite paragraph has to do with a bird that sings only when with its mate.
August 25, 2018
I found this story “Getting to Know the General” by Graham Greene quite interesting and more so because I was living and working in Panama when the events were happening. So, I have a little story of my encounter with General Omar Torrijos Herrera one bright sunny tropical day while going to pick up a visitor who was coming to inspect an automated inventory system I was installing in our operation of the Army and Air Force Exchange-Panama. but it really sets the whole tone of what happen during Mr. Henley’s visit. So, here goes...the day I had my close encounter with General Omar Torrijos Herrera.
First a little bit of history about the General:
General Omar Torrijos Herrera (1929-1981) was born in the province of Santiago. He took part in the coup that deposed Presidente Arnulfo Arias in 1968. He became commander of the National Guard and soon emerges as the strongman of the new regime. He exercised full control, ruling by decree an imprisoning or exiling all his opponents until his untimely death in an airplane crash in 1981. Here is my little story. It really happened which at the time seemed unbelievable that it was happening to me.
Now, picture if you will a sunny morning in Panama with the time almost 10 O'clock and you are running late in picking up an inspector from the States. So, you are trying to make time by racing. You are in a small blue VW heading in the direction of the Metro Theater on a narrow street one over from Balboa Avenue. You are about to pass the intersecting street up from the Cafe del Boulevard. When suddenly out of nowhere a monstrous green Mercedes with its engine racing cuts in front of you. You react quickly by slamming on your brakes and leaning on your horn. As your tires scream like a banshee on the plains of Zimbabwe, you notice that a man in uniform occupies the back seat of the Mercedes. He is smoking a large Cuban cigar. Your eyes meet his briefly and his large Mercedes accelerates. He must be late for his appointment too. The chase car has his bodyguards who at this point are just trying hard to keep up with the general's car. The whole incident takes a few seconds, but your whole life, as you know it flashes before your eyes. The bodyguards are brandishing submachine guns. As they speed by you quickly pullover to the curb and then stop the VW.
As you sit there thanking your lucky stars that you stop for some chance tickets at "La Loteria" building and a "Raspado" (Crazy Italian Ice) for the road...you say softly, "Thank you God!" After a few moments you continue to the International Hotel located on the Plaza de Cinco de Mayo. The story would end there...but no there is more.
As you all remember close parking to the International is at a premium at almost any hour of the day. As you get closer you spot a large green Mercedes in front of the entrance. The bodyguards are deployed. You go around the Plaza and notice that there is only one parking spot available but one of the general's bodyguards is standing in it. You have already gone around twice; so, you, beep your horn. He looks your way swings his machine pistol in your direction but steps out of the way as you ease into the parking space. You are wearing a white Pana-Brisa and you are sweating bullets, no pun intended. You get out of the VW, which you have nicknamed 'Herbie-2' from the movie of "The Love Bug."
Some people when they are very nervous, they talk to themselves. Well, I am carrying on a full conversation. First with Herbie-2 as I leave him in the parking space and later with myself, as I rush to meet my party staying at the International Hotel. I had tried to put him up at the Tivoli Guest House, but his stateside travel agency had made his reservations. I enter from the bright sunshine to a somewhat cooler interior of the lobby and proceed to the courtesy phone. I ring the visiting fireman's room from the main office. He picks up on the first ring and tells me that he will be right down. I walk over to the bank of elevators and notice that one is already descending. The doors open suddenly right in front of me. Guess who? No, it is not the Headquarters' Manager that I am to pick up and bus to Fort Clayton. No, it is General Omar Torrijos Herrera in the flesh. As he heads toward me, his bodyguards swarm around me like killer bees. Again, my whole life flashes before me! I do what anybody else would do in such a situation and say, " Buenos Dias mi General." He grunts a greeting as he passes me and heads for the doors. And at that very moment the elevator doors open and the person I'm to pick up steps out into the lobby. He sees the general departing and says, " Louie, that is the general, did you see him?" I answered, "Yes, I know." Well, he continues with, "Now I'll have something to tell the people back at the home office." And I think, someday I'll have to tell my little story..........
Well, his inspection tour of our operations goes well. He stays about a week. Then after some sightseeing and shopping I take him to the airport. And he is gone until his next visit. I never have another close encounter with the general. A year later I transfer to San Francisco, California. Sometime later in a stateside newspaper I read of the general's untimely death in an airplane crash. Over the years when I think about that close encounter, I say to myself that everything in life is a matter of timing. My being a little late at that intersection saved me from my final curtain call. I thank God that he was watching out for me that day. It could have been different, and I may not be here at this keyboard relating to you an incident that when I was going through it appeared like something out of the "Twilight Zone" and in very, very slow motion. Again, time marches on..........
Graham Greene's book goes into some background information and events that did not come to life until the General passed in a tragic airplane accident. Some of the accident is still cloak in mystery. The inspectors after much analysis reach the conclusion that it was not engine failure, so it must have been the terrible weather the plane was flying in to get over a ridge of mountains or pilot error. I strongly recommend that all who are interested to read the book and draw your own conclusions.
First a little bit of history about the General:
General Omar Torrijos Herrera (1929-1981) was born in the province of Santiago. He took part in the coup that deposed Presidente Arnulfo Arias in 1968. He became commander of the National Guard and soon emerges as the strongman of the new regime. He exercised full control, ruling by decree an imprisoning or exiling all his opponents until his untimely death in an airplane crash in 1981. Here is my little story. It really happened which at the time seemed unbelievable that it was happening to me.
Now, picture if you will a sunny morning in Panama with the time almost 10 O'clock and you are running late in picking up an inspector from the States. So, you are trying to make time by racing. You are in a small blue VW heading in the direction of the Metro Theater on a narrow street one over from Balboa Avenue. You are about to pass the intersecting street up from the Cafe del Boulevard. When suddenly out of nowhere a monstrous green Mercedes with its engine racing cuts in front of you. You react quickly by slamming on your brakes and leaning on your horn. As your tires scream like a banshee on the plains of Zimbabwe, you notice that a man in uniform occupies the back seat of the Mercedes. He is smoking a large Cuban cigar. Your eyes meet his briefly and his large Mercedes accelerates. He must be late for his appointment too. The chase car has his bodyguards who at this point are just trying hard to keep up with the general's car. The whole incident takes a few seconds, but your whole life, as you know it flashes before your eyes. The bodyguards are brandishing submachine guns. As they speed by you quickly pullover to the curb and then stop the VW.
As you sit there thanking your lucky stars that you stop for some chance tickets at "La Loteria" building and a "Raspado" (Crazy Italian Ice) for the road...you say softly, "Thank you God!" After a few moments you continue to the International Hotel located on the Plaza de Cinco de Mayo. The story would end there...but no there is more.
As you all remember close parking to the International is at a premium at almost any hour of the day. As you get closer you spot a large green Mercedes in front of the entrance. The bodyguards are deployed. You go around the Plaza and notice that there is only one parking spot available but one of the general's bodyguards is standing in it. You have already gone around twice; so, you, beep your horn. He looks your way swings his machine pistol in your direction but steps out of the way as you ease into the parking space. You are wearing a white Pana-Brisa and you are sweating bullets, no pun intended. You get out of the VW, which you have nicknamed 'Herbie-2' from the movie of "The Love Bug."
Some people when they are very nervous, they talk to themselves. Well, I am carrying on a full conversation. First with Herbie-2 as I leave him in the parking space and later with myself, as I rush to meet my party staying at the International Hotel. I had tried to put him up at the Tivoli Guest House, but his stateside travel agency had made his reservations. I enter from the bright sunshine to a somewhat cooler interior of the lobby and proceed to the courtesy phone. I ring the visiting fireman's room from the main office. He picks up on the first ring and tells me that he will be right down. I walk over to the bank of elevators and notice that one is already descending. The doors open suddenly right in front of me. Guess who? No, it is not the Headquarters' Manager that I am to pick up and bus to Fort Clayton. No, it is General Omar Torrijos Herrera in the flesh. As he heads toward me, his bodyguards swarm around me like killer bees. Again, my whole life flashes before me! I do what anybody else would do in such a situation and say, " Buenos Dias mi General." He grunts a greeting as he passes me and heads for the doors. And at that very moment the elevator doors open and the person I'm to pick up steps out into the lobby. He sees the general departing and says, " Louie, that is the general, did you see him?" I answered, "Yes, I know." Well, he continues with, "Now I'll have something to tell the people back at the home office." And I think, someday I'll have to tell my little story..........
Well, his inspection tour of our operations goes well. He stays about a week. Then after some sightseeing and shopping I take him to the airport. And he is gone until his next visit. I never have another close encounter with the general. A year later I transfer to San Francisco, California. Sometime later in a stateside newspaper I read of the general's untimely death in an airplane crash. Over the years when I think about that close encounter, I say to myself that everything in life is a matter of timing. My being a little late at that intersection saved me from my final curtain call. I thank God that he was watching out for me that day. It could have been different, and I may not be here at this keyboard relating to you an incident that when I was going through it appeared like something out of the "Twilight Zone" and in very, very slow motion. Again, time marches on..........
Graham Greene's book goes into some background information and events that did not come to life until the General passed in a tragic airplane accident. Some of the accident is still cloak in mystery. The inspectors after much analysis reach the conclusion that it was not engine failure, so it must have been the terrible weather the plane was flying in to get over a ridge of mountains or pilot error. I strongly recommend that all who are interested to read the book and draw your own conclusions.
October 29, 2015
هي ليست رواية، إنها خلاصة زيارات متكررة قام غراهام غرين لبناما ولقائه بالجنرال عمر توريخوس. ويحدث بأن هذه الزيارات قد تركت أثراً بالغاً في نفس غرين لدرجة أنه ارتأى أن يكتب عنها كما هي دون أن يوظفها في إطار روائي.
بدأت الزيارات عام 1976 بينما كانت المفاوضات بين بناما والولايات المتحدة في أوجها في محاولة من الجنرال عمر توريخوس لإعادة سيطرة بناما على القناة والتي تستمر الولايات المتحدة منذ استقلال بناما بالسيطرة عليها.
يغلب على الكتاب يوميات الحياة في بناما ولا أخفي أنها كانت مملة إلى حد كبير وفقيرة بالمعلومات المفيدة عن موضوع الكتاب عمر توريخوس. حيث كان هناك الكثير من الحديث عن عشيقات شوشو.. وبيت مسكون في إحدى مدن بناما وإنعدام الأمان.. نعم، كان هناك تفصيل لربما ليس بالكافي عن الوضع السياسي في أمريكا اللاتينية.. إلا أنه بالأغلب كان هذا الكتاب مخيباً لي بشكل عام.
استعادت بناما السيطرة على القناة كما أراد توريخوس الذي حدث أن قتل في حادث تحطم طائرة وأكدت التحقيقات الرسمية أنه لم توجد دلائل على أعطال ميكانيكية في الطائرة وكما يقول غرين أن ذلك يترك لنا إحتمالين؛ إما أنه خطأ من الطيار.. أو أنها قنبلة.
من الجدير بالذكر أن هناك الكثير من التقارير التي تتحدث عن تورط الإستخبارات الأمريكية في إغتيال عمر توريخوس.
بدأت الزيارات عام 1976 بينما كانت المفاوضات بين بناما والولايات المتحدة في أوجها في محاولة من الجنرال عمر توريخوس لإعادة سيطرة بناما على القناة والتي تستمر الولايات المتحدة منذ استقلال بناما بالسيطرة عليها.
يغلب على الكتاب يوميات الحياة في بناما ولا أخفي أنها كانت مملة إلى حد كبير وفقيرة بالمعلومات المفيدة عن موضوع الكتاب عمر توريخوس. حيث كان هناك الكثير من الحديث عن عشيقات شوشو.. وبيت مسكون في إحدى مدن بناما وإنعدام الأمان.. نعم، كان هناك تفصيل لربما ليس بالكافي عن الوضع السياسي في أمريكا اللاتينية.. إلا أنه بالأغلب كان هذا الكتاب مخيباً لي بشكل عام.
استعادت بناما السيطرة على القناة كما أراد توريخوس الذي حدث أن قتل في حادث تحطم طائرة وأكدت التحقيقات الرسمية أنه لم توجد دلائل على أعطال ميكانيكية في الطائرة وكما يقول غرين أن ذلك يترك لنا إحتمالين؛ إما أنه خطأ من الطيار.. أو أنها قنبلة.
من الجدير بالذكر أن هناك الكثير من التقارير التي تتحدث عن تورط الإستخبارات الأمريكية في إغتيال عمر توريخوس.
December 24, 2015
I was a young kid when I read this book (okay 25) and what I thought was Greene was such a rebel. He gets an invitation to visit General Omar Torrijos of Panama in 1976 and gets to know him. This gets him kicked out of the U.S. and treads on dangerous grounds for his travels. But Greene was just that sort of character....and that is what makes this such a good read.
July 31, 2008
I wrote a letter to Graham Greene in my head. I'll be waiting forever to send it.
January 2, 2025
Bir Ekonomik Tetikcinin itiraflarinda denk gelmistim Omar Torrijos a ve daha cok tanimak istemistim zaten o kitapta buna referans da veriliyor amma lakin bu kitaptaki Omar anlatimi bir defa kisitli daha cok Cavus Chuchu yu tanimak olmus bu kitap. Ayrica yaklasimlarda da cok fark var. O kitapta duygusalligi zkasi daha one cikarilmis bir halk kahramaniydi. Burada boyle oldugu yaziyla yaziyor ama hissettirilmiyor yavan bir anlatim. Ayrica onceki kitapta Jimmy Carter in zayif bir baskan oldugu icin Omar in bundan yararlandigi ve Panama Kanali ile ilgili istediklerini aldigi anlatiliyordu burada ise istediklerini alamayip kederlenen bir Omar var. Carter da daha cok butun Latin Amerika ulke liderlerini toplayan daha guclu bir konuma konmus. Zerre kayif almadim.
September 9, 2021
I arrived at Getting to Know the General with limited knowledge of its key players. I’d only recently been introduced to Omar Torrijos (my brain keeps wanting to call him Turrijo for some reason) through John Perkins’s Confessions of an Economic Hitman and was interested enough to pick up Greene’s slim accounting of his relationship with the Panamanian leader that lasted around five years beginning in 1976.
I thought this was just OK. Greene’s primary contact in Panama was a Marxist profession, poet, and mathematician named Jose de Jesus Martinez, aka Chuchu, a heavy drinker who may have been a sex/relationship addict but who was also the general’s polyglot security guard. Chuchu and Greene’s relationship is deeper than Greene’s and Torrijos’s, but is bound together in their service to the Panama leader who Greene described as, “lean and good looking with a forelock of hair which hung over his forehead and give-away eyes.”
There’s a fondness and warmth with which Greene writes about Torrijos. Late in the book he writes that the General was, “a lonely man, a man genuinely affectionate, who grasped at friendship as greedily as he grasped at books as though there were too little time left for him to catch up on either.” These aren’t empty words or sentiments, but rather well-earned not just through whatever Greene experienced with Torrijos but how he presents the General’s interactions with local leaders or Jimmy Carter, how he gives a thousand dollars (in Greene’s name) to an opposition political leader for non-political reasons or how he acknowledges (after the fact) his own ignorance in the canal treaty he signed with Carter.
The evidence is there and yet, the General is both the star and a supporting character. While it’s Greene’s and Chuchu’s adventures throughout Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, DC, and eventually Cuba, the General is always looming, directing, orchestrating, revealing, and, as Greene sometimes interprets, teaching.
Against Greene’s education on Central American (particularly Panama and Nicaragua, the Canal and the Sandinistas) is what almost feels like a running bit for Greene to comment on the endless booze consumed and the quality (directly: it was shit) of the food/drink. It became distracting, a main character, or, a gag.
The following is a 36-page stretch of Greene griping about the food and drink. It really got to the point where it was a fixation, a distraction:
• Pg143: “we had a bad lunch at a Chinese restaurant after bad rum punches at the Holiday Inn.”
• Pg145: “The sole certainty from one day to another was what we had for lunch—a shrimp salad, the only edible form of food we were able to find in Belize.”
• Pg148: “that night in Belize city Chuchu and I had a bad dinner of shrimps..”
• Pg149: “Before going to the airport we had a typical Belize lunch — no choice except that between shrimps and hamburgers”
• Pg150: “I certainly found San Jose a dreary city under the soaking rain … to a small restaurant on the other side of the city where we sat down wet through to a meal quite as bad as any in Belize.”
• Pg161: “As usual in Panama our plans were soon upset by the innumerable telephone conversations that took place between our Rum punches, which as usual were badly made and expensive.”
• Pg162: in the Canal Zone, “we drank good rum punches and ate a terrible Irish stew.”
• Pg166: “our maids served us a simple and excellent lunch”
• Pg171: “back in Managua, we chose badly for dinner—at a restaurant called Los Ranchos which served poor and expensive food with a false elegance.”
• Pg173: “we preserved our thirst for a little shabby Jamaican restaurant to which we had become attached, the Montego Bay, kept by an old jovial black, whose rum punches were almost as good as Flor’s.”
• Pg179: “An awful lunch in an empty restaurant did nothing to cheer us: a thin soup with two bits of meat floating in it: a scrap of chicken, mainly skin: no rum—only a weak bottled beer.”
• Pg179: “Chuchu ran into a black acquaintance called Raul who had once been a student of his and we went to a stall and drank bad rum.”
The preceding 100+ pages flow similarly – Greene indefatigably complaining about the availability of booze and the quality of rum punches.
After the General’s death in 1981 plane crash that’s been frequently suspected as an American/CIA assassination (Greene addresses this in his postscript), Greene waited a full two years before returning to Panama and this section makes up the Epilogue. There’s a cheekiness to Greene that’s persistent, charming, and prevalent before and after the General’s death, but there’s a massive break in tone between the Epilogue and pre-Epilogue. Greene is crisper, more direct, more analytical and succinct in the Epilogue. He lays out the politics at work between the General’s successor, Nicaragua, and Cuba in a way that’s either fleeting or absent in the actual content of the book. The cheeky charm is still there, but he conveys information, he reports much better in the Epilogue.
This was an insightful read and one that makes the General’s death and its circumstances all the more tragic. That its main character was competing with critiques of Belizean shrimp is just weird, but for those interested in Panama’s history, Omar Torrijos, or Graham Greene, or the cuisines of Central America via the late 1970s from the perspective of a European novelist, it’s definitely worth the brief time required to read.
I thought this was just OK. Greene’s primary contact in Panama was a Marxist profession, poet, and mathematician named Jose de Jesus Martinez, aka Chuchu, a heavy drinker who may have been a sex/relationship addict but who was also the general’s polyglot security guard. Chuchu and Greene’s relationship is deeper than Greene’s and Torrijos’s, but is bound together in their service to the Panama leader who Greene described as, “lean and good looking with a forelock of hair which hung over his forehead and give-away eyes.”
There’s a fondness and warmth with which Greene writes about Torrijos. Late in the book he writes that the General was, “a lonely man, a man genuinely affectionate, who grasped at friendship as greedily as he grasped at books as though there were too little time left for him to catch up on either.” These aren’t empty words or sentiments, but rather well-earned not just through whatever Greene experienced with Torrijos but how he presents the General’s interactions with local leaders or Jimmy Carter, how he gives a thousand dollars (in Greene’s name) to an opposition political leader for non-political reasons or how he acknowledges (after the fact) his own ignorance in the canal treaty he signed with Carter.
The evidence is there and yet, the General is both the star and a supporting character. While it’s Greene’s and Chuchu’s adventures throughout Panama, Nicaragua, Belize, DC, and eventually Cuba, the General is always looming, directing, orchestrating, revealing, and, as Greene sometimes interprets, teaching.
Against Greene’s education on Central American (particularly Panama and Nicaragua, the Canal and the Sandinistas) is what almost feels like a running bit for Greene to comment on the endless booze consumed and the quality (directly: it was shit) of the food/drink. It became distracting, a main character, or, a gag.
The following is a 36-page stretch of Greene griping about the food and drink. It really got to the point where it was a fixation, a distraction:
• Pg143: “we had a bad lunch at a Chinese restaurant after bad rum punches at the Holiday Inn.”
• Pg145: “The sole certainty from one day to another was what we had for lunch—a shrimp salad, the only edible form of food we were able to find in Belize.”
• Pg148: “that night in Belize city Chuchu and I had a bad dinner of shrimps..”
• Pg149: “Before going to the airport we had a typical Belize lunch — no choice except that between shrimps and hamburgers”
• Pg150: “I certainly found San Jose a dreary city under the soaking rain … to a small restaurant on the other side of the city where we sat down wet through to a meal quite as bad as any in Belize.”
• Pg161: “As usual in Panama our plans were soon upset by the innumerable telephone conversations that took place between our Rum punches, which as usual were badly made and expensive.”
• Pg162: in the Canal Zone, “we drank good rum punches and ate a terrible Irish stew.”
• Pg166: “our maids served us a simple and excellent lunch”
• Pg171: “back in Managua, we chose badly for dinner—at a restaurant called Los Ranchos which served poor and expensive food with a false elegance.”
• Pg173: “we preserved our thirst for a little shabby Jamaican restaurant to which we had become attached, the Montego Bay, kept by an old jovial black, whose rum punches were almost as good as Flor’s.”
• Pg179: “An awful lunch in an empty restaurant did nothing to cheer us: a thin soup with two bits of meat floating in it: a scrap of chicken, mainly skin: no rum—only a weak bottled beer.”
• Pg179: “Chuchu ran into a black acquaintance called Raul who had once been a student of his and we went to a stall and drank bad rum.”
The preceding 100+ pages flow similarly – Greene indefatigably complaining about the availability of booze and the quality of rum punches.
After the General’s death in 1981 plane crash that’s been frequently suspected as an American/CIA assassination (Greene addresses this in his postscript), Greene waited a full two years before returning to Panama and this section makes up the Epilogue. There’s a cheekiness to Greene that’s persistent, charming, and prevalent before and after the General’s death, but there’s a massive break in tone between the Epilogue and pre-Epilogue. Greene is crisper, more direct, more analytical and succinct in the Epilogue. He lays out the politics at work between the General’s successor, Nicaragua, and Cuba in a way that’s either fleeting or absent in the actual content of the book. The cheeky charm is still there, but he conveys information, he reports much better in the Epilogue.
This was an insightful read and one that makes the General’s death and its circumstances all the more tragic. That its main character was competing with critiques of Belizean shrimp is just weird, but for those interested in Panama’s history, Omar Torrijos, or Graham Greene, or the cuisines of Central America via the late 1970s from the perspective of a European novelist, it’s definitely worth the brief time required to read.
August 25, 2014
اذا كنت تريد أن تقرأ في سيرة الجنرال عمر توريخوس فهذا الكتاب لن يساعدك، عنوان الكتاب لقاء مع الجنرال وهو ماكنت متوقعًا أن أجد معلومات عن حياة هذا الجنرال لكن للأسف الكتاب يحتوي على يوميات الكاتب في رحلته الى بنما
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February 28, 2012"Fear can be easily experienced, but fun is hard to come by in old age..."
January 20, 2025
I want to be Graham Greene, cocktail in hand, about to fly across the Atlantic meet my boys over in Panama.
November 8, 2019
Ez egy kudarcból kovácsolt könyv: Greene tervezett egy regényt Útban hazafelé címmel, melybe beleírta volna a szívéhez oly közel álló Panamát, ám ismétlődő utazásai során olyan közel került az országhoz (és egyben az ország vezetőjéhez, Omar Torrijos Herrera tábornokhoz), hogy az már lehetetlenné tette a fikcióvá transzformálást. De ha a fikció füstbe ment is, azért maradt még egy út: megírni az egészet mint dokumentumregényt. Ami ugyan jó sokat levagdos az írói fantázia szárnytollaiból, és alaposan csökkenti a szöveg gördülékenységét is, ugyanakkor hitelességet kölcsönöz a mű információtartalmának. Aminek szintúgy örülünk.
Greene abba a Latin-Amerikába kalauzol minket, ami ekkoriban (a 70-es, 80-as években) a hidegháború egyik gócpontja volt, és egyben az amerikai külpolitika egyik szégyenfoltja is – az USA ugyanis a marxista rezsimektől való félelmében támogatta Dél-Amerika jobboldali katonai juntáit (az olyan diktátorokat, mint a nicaraguai Somoza, a chilei Pinochet, vagy a paraguayi Stroessner), a nekik juttatott fegyverszállítmányok és pénzösszegek pedig piszkos kis háborúkban és tömeggyilkosságokban lettek felhasználva. (Meg persze a diktátorok személyes bankszámláin landoltak.) Panama a térségben kulcspozíciót töltött be – a területén húzódó Csatorna-övezet jogi hovatartozásáról kellett marakodnia a mindenkori amerikai elnökökkel, miközben vezetője, Herrera tábornok úr úgy próbált egyensúlyozni a jobb- és baloldali diktatúrák között, hogy saját népét is kielégítse, de a gringókkal se zördüljön össze jóvátehetetlenül. Greene szemmel láthatóan bírja Herrerát – nagyon meleg szavakkal ábrázolja törekvését, hogy emberközpontú szociáldemokráciát hozzon létre, ahol a vezér gondol egyet, és helikopterrel meglátogatja a jukkatermesztőket, hogy konzultáljon velük*, és nem győzi dicsérni Latin-Amerikában valóban szokatlan vonzalmát az olyan demokratikus értékekhez, mint a szólásszabadság**. Egyszóval a tábornok Greene szerint jó ember: őszinte, érzelmes, higgadt, egy igazi barát – amit persze kezelhetünk fenntartással, hisz pontosan tudjuk, a diktátorok milyen szimpatikusak tudnak lenni, ha akarnak (példálódzhatnánk Castróval, Kadhafival), miközben saját házi ellenzékükkel azért nem lacafacáznak.
Ugyanakkor e könyvben nem csak a tábornokról és Panamáról tudunk meg sokat, hanem bizony Greene-ről is. És nem csak arról, hogyan igyekszik anyagot gyűjteni (ezúttal sikertelenül) egy tipikusan greene-es trópusi történethez sok kalanddal, kémkedéssel, emberi gyengeséggel és politikával (ami bizonyos helyzetekben az „emberi gyengeség” szinonimája), hanem valamiről, amiről Greene talán nem is tudja, hogy beszél: saját alkoholizmusáról. A könyvben refrénként ismétlődnek a morózus puffogások arról, hogy ezen meg azon a mucsai vidéken nem lehet rendes gint kapni, azt se tudják, mi a rumpuncs, meg még a sör is harmatgyenge, hogy arra még a gyanútlan olvasó is felkapja a fejét: hé, ez tisztára egy vén piás hangja! Mondjuk ha piás, ha nem, Greene írni azért tud.
* Jó, hát Panama nem egy nagy ország – összesen annyi lakosa van, mint Budapestnek. Próbálná meg ugyanezt mondjuk Indiában megcsinálni!
** Greene elmond egy édes sztorit – minden este elmegy Herrera nyaralója előtt egy részeg halász, és teli szájjal szidja a tábornok urat meg a pereputtyát. Közben a tábornok úr meg a tornácon fekszik a függőágyban, és röhög rajta. Mi ez, ha nem szólásszabadság? Jó, hát dél-amerikai változatban.
Greene abba a Latin-Amerikába kalauzol minket, ami ekkoriban (a 70-es, 80-as években) a hidegháború egyik gócpontja volt, és egyben az amerikai külpolitika egyik szégyenfoltja is – az USA ugyanis a marxista rezsimektől való félelmében támogatta Dél-Amerika jobboldali katonai juntáit (az olyan diktátorokat, mint a nicaraguai Somoza, a chilei Pinochet, vagy a paraguayi Stroessner), a nekik juttatott fegyverszállítmányok és pénzösszegek pedig piszkos kis háborúkban és tömeggyilkosságokban lettek felhasználva. (Meg persze a diktátorok személyes bankszámláin landoltak.) Panama a térségben kulcspozíciót töltött be – a területén húzódó Csatorna-övezet jogi hovatartozásáról kellett marakodnia a mindenkori amerikai elnökökkel, miközben vezetője, Herrera tábornok úr úgy próbált egyensúlyozni a jobb- és baloldali diktatúrák között, hogy saját népét is kielégítse, de a gringókkal se zördüljön össze jóvátehetetlenül. Greene szemmel láthatóan bírja Herrerát – nagyon meleg szavakkal ábrázolja törekvését, hogy emberközpontú szociáldemokráciát hozzon létre, ahol a vezér gondol egyet, és helikopterrel meglátogatja a jukkatermesztőket, hogy konzultáljon velük*, és nem győzi dicsérni Latin-Amerikában valóban szokatlan vonzalmát az olyan demokratikus értékekhez, mint a szólásszabadság**. Egyszóval a tábornok Greene szerint jó ember: őszinte, érzelmes, higgadt, egy igazi barát – amit persze kezelhetünk fenntartással, hisz pontosan tudjuk, a diktátorok milyen szimpatikusak tudnak lenni, ha akarnak (példálódzhatnánk Castróval, Kadhafival), miközben saját házi ellenzékükkel azért nem lacafacáznak.
Ugyanakkor e könyvben nem csak a tábornokról és Panamáról tudunk meg sokat, hanem bizony Greene-ről is. És nem csak arról, hogyan igyekszik anyagot gyűjteni (ezúttal sikertelenül) egy tipikusan greene-es trópusi történethez sok kalanddal, kémkedéssel, emberi gyengeséggel és politikával (ami bizonyos helyzetekben az „emberi gyengeség” szinonimája), hanem valamiről, amiről Greene talán nem is tudja, hogy beszél: saját alkoholizmusáról. A könyvben refrénként ismétlődnek a morózus puffogások arról, hogy ezen meg azon a mucsai vidéken nem lehet rendes gint kapni, azt se tudják, mi a rumpuncs, meg még a sör is harmatgyenge, hogy arra még a gyanútlan olvasó is felkapja a fejét: hé, ez tisztára egy vén piás hangja! Mondjuk ha piás, ha nem, Greene írni azért tud.
* Jó, hát Panama nem egy nagy ország – összesen annyi lakosa van, mint Budapestnek. Próbálná meg ugyanezt mondjuk Indiában megcsinálni!
** Greene elmond egy édes sztorit – minden este elmegy Herrera nyaralója előtt egy részeg halász, és teli szájjal szidja a tábornok urat meg a pereputtyát. Közben a tábornok úr meg a tornácon fekszik a függőágyban, és röhög rajta. Mi ez, ha nem szólásszabadság? Jó, hát dél-amerikai változatban.
March 25, 2018
For anyone interested in the politics of Central America in the 1970s and 1980s, which of course also requires an interest in the US intervention in the isthmus that intensified during the later stages of the Cold War, this book provides fascinating insights into some of the key personalities involved. Of course, apart from Greene himself (whose knowledge of the region grows with his friendship with the general), we mainly find ourselves getting to know Omar Torrijos, and his political amanuensis and bodyguard, Chuchu. Simply as a travelogue the book works because of the personalities - the quirky and enigmatic Torrijos, the ever-willing and slightly crazy Chuchu, and the pliable, curious Graham Greene, happy to be pushed into various political roles and (literally) to enjoy the ride as he gets dispatched to various parts of Panama or the wider region, often in the presidential plane.
In those couple of decades Torrijos was an influential figure - not only in Panama, principally in steering the agreement on the future of the canal and its return to Panamanian control, but also in his involvement in regional politics. He often operated behind the scenes, giving support to the rebel armies challenging right-wing governments in various countries, providing refuge to people who needed a place of safety away from the different struggles (not only guerilla leaders but also ordinary campesinos), and publicly or clandestinely seeking solutions to the conflicts. Greene is fascinated by Torrijos's self-adopted regional role and becomes a willing co-conspirator.
While the focus of the book is on the two main Panamanian characters, we get vignettes of many others - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fidel Castro, Eden Pastora, Tomas Borge and many more. We get snapshot views of the canal zone, the rain-swept Bocas de Toro, the San Blas islands where the Kuna people live, and many parts of the rest of Central America.
Greene undertakes all this with seeming reluctance - he is constantly fretting about the need to get back to Antibes to sort out some domestic problem - but in practice he is ineluctably drawn in by the combined charms of Torrijos and Chuchu. And we, of course, as readers, are similarly seduced.
Greene's last journey to Panama is in the aftermath of Omar Torrijos's death, when his plane mysteriously crashes in a remote part of the country. At first Greene believes that the crash must have been a result of pilot error, even though earlier in the book he reveals that Torrijos spoke of the possibility of his being assassinated. Then Greene is shown some intelligence reports showing the distorted view of Torrijos held by the US administration, and he becomes suspicous that the death of his friend was not accidental. Definitive proof that it was a CIA-led plot has not yet surfaced (as far as I'm aware), but it seems likely. Certainly the insider John Perkins, in 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' believed that this was the case. Graham Greene was to die before these further revelations emerged.
In those couple of decades Torrijos was an influential figure - not only in Panama, principally in steering the agreement on the future of the canal and its return to Panamanian control, but also in his involvement in regional politics. He often operated behind the scenes, giving support to the rebel armies challenging right-wing governments in various countries, providing refuge to people who needed a place of safety away from the different struggles (not only guerilla leaders but also ordinary campesinos), and publicly or clandestinely seeking solutions to the conflicts. Greene is fascinated by Torrijos's self-adopted regional role and becomes a willing co-conspirator.
While the focus of the book is on the two main Panamanian characters, we get vignettes of many others - Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Fidel Castro, Eden Pastora, Tomas Borge and many more. We get snapshot views of the canal zone, the rain-swept Bocas de Toro, the San Blas islands where the Kuna people live, and many parts of the rest of Central America.
Greene undertakes all this with seeming reluctance - he is constantly fretting about the need to get back to Antibes to sort out some domestic problem - but in practice he is ineluctably drawn in by the combined charms of Torrijos and Chuchu. And we, of course, as readers, are similarly seduced.
Greene's last journey to Panama is in the aftermath of Omar Torrijos's death, when his plane mysteriously crashes in a remote part of the country. At first Greene believes that the crash must have been a result of pilot error, even though earlier in the book he reveals that Torrijos spoke of the possibility of his being assassinated. Then Greene is shown some intelligence reports showing the distorted view of Torrijos held by the US administration, and he becomes suspicous that the death of his friend was not accidental. Definitive proof that it was a CIA-led plot has not yet surfaced (as far as I'm aware), but it seems likely. Certainly the insider John Perkins, in 'Confessions of an Economic Hit Man' believed that this was the case. Graham Greene was to die before these further revelations emerged.
June 21, 2017
"Mas por que, meu amigo insistia na pergunta, esse meu interesse durante tantos anos pela Espanha e pela América Latina? Talvez a resposta esteja aqui: naqueles países raramente a política significou uma mera alternância entre partidos rivais. Tem sido uma questão de vida e morte"
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Em Um Lobo Solitário, Graham Greene nos imerge no real cotidiano do pequeno país do Panamá, a partir de seu general, Omar Torrijos Herrera.
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Separado da Colômbia, o Panamá vive sob forte influência estrangeira (em meados dos anos 70) devido principalmente à estratégica Zona Do Canal panamenha. Dessa forma, o general tenta por meio de negociações, retomar a autonomia do pequeno país frente ao poderoso Estados Unidos.
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Primeiramente, Um Lobo Solitário deveria ser um romance. Dessa forma, várias páginas do livro são uma tentativa do Greene de colocar o general e a situação do Panamá em um livro de ficção. Em segundo plano, Um Lobo Solitário se torna a tentativa de Greene (uma vez que não consegue escrever o romance) de acentuar a sua grande amizade e admiração pelo general. No entanto, devo dizer que, para quem lê, Um Lobo Solitário se torna um pouco de tudo. Em parte um romance, em parte sua história de amizade com o general e, ainda, em parte um pouco de geopolítica da década de 70. E isso é o que abrilhanta ainda mais o livro.
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Em suma, a leitura foi bastante prazerosa. A escrita do Graham é extremamente fluida e a tradução do livro ficou impecável. Minhas palmas para a equipe que a fez. Minha única crítica vai para uma provável tentativa do autor de descrição mais ampla, mas que acabou se tornando enfadonha em alguns capítulos.
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No mais, não inicie a leitura esperando uma história tradicional. O que na verdade se deve esperar é o conjunto de fatos reais que Graham nos mostra sem restrição sobre uma conjuntura política que, por vezes, a América Latina prefere esquecer.
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Em Um Lobo Solitário, Graham Greene nos imerge no real cotidiano do pequeno país do Panamá, a partir de seu general, Omar Torrijos Herrera.
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Separado da Colômbia, o Panamá vive sob forte influência estrangeira (em meados dos anos 70) devido principalmente à estratégica Zona Do Canal panamenha. Dessa forma, o general tenta por meio de negociações, retomar a autonomia do pequeno país frente ao poderoso Estados Unidos.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Primeiramente, Um Lobo Solitário deveria ser um romance. Dessa forma, várias páginas do livro são uma tentativa do Greene de colocar o general e a situação do Panamá em um livro de ficção. Em segundo plano, Um Lobo Solitário se torna a tentativa de Greene (uma vez que não consegue escrever o romance) de acentuar a sua grande amizade e admiração pelo general. No entanto, devo dizer que, para quem lê, Um Lobo Solitário se torna um pouco de tudo. Em parte um romance, em parte sua história de amizade com o general e, ainda, em parte um pouco de geopolítica da década de 70. E isso é o que abrilhanta ainda mais o livro.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Em suma, a leitura foi bastante prazerosa. A escrita do Graham é extremamente fluida e a tradução do livro ficou impecável. Minhas palmas para a equipe que a fez. Minha única crítica vai para uma provável tentativa do autor de descrição mais ampla, mas que acabou se tornando enfadonha em alguns capítulos.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
No mais, não inicie a leitura esperando uma história tradicional. O que na verdade se deve esperar é o conjunto de fatos reais que Graham nos mostra sem restrição sobre uma conjuntura política que, por vezes, a América Latina prefere esquecer.
March 29, 2023
El General Omar Torrijos es un personaje interesante. Tildado como dictador por unos, aclamado como estadista por otros -y quizá ambos tengan razón- pero ante mis ojos, fue un gran patriota, que puso la soberanía panameña como bandera de su proyecto político, ejemplificado con los tratados con las bananeras y el Canal.
En tal sentido, este libro reconstruye una serie de reflexiones y anécdotas de un personaje que conoció y quiso al General (pese a que solo hizo un puñado de viajes a esa tierra centroamericana), pasando por episodios tales como las negociaciones del Tratado del Canal con los gringos, su intermediación (o broker) en asuntos diplomáticos, los conflictos guerrilleros en Nicaragua y El Salvador, la independencia beliceña, entre otros. A través de sus páginas nos permite conocer mejor a este fascinante personaje que fue el General Omar Torrijos, así como a otros tales como "Chuchu".
Junto a este libro, también recomiendo "Las Guerras del General Omar Torrijos" del periodista (y amigo) Zoilo Martínez De la Vega, quien profundiza más en el personaje.
Pd: como este libro originalmente fue escrito a inicios de los 80s, de manera natural se narra lo que hasta este entonces se sabía. Bien sea de la supuesta revolución sandinista o la misteriosa muerte del General, la información que posteriormente surgiría de manera probable le hubiera cambiado ciertas perspectivas a Graham Greene.
En tal sentido, este libro reconstruye una serie de reflexiones y anécdotas de un personaje que conoció y quiso al General (pese a que solo hizo un puñado de viajes a esa tierra centroamericana), pasando por episodios tales como las negociaciones del Tratado del Canal con los gringos, su intermediación (o broker) en asuntos diplomáticos, los conflictos guerrilleros en Nicaragua y El Salvador, la independencia beliceña, entre otros. A través de sus páginas nos permite conocer mejor a este fascinante personaje que fue el General Omar Torrijos, así como a otros tales como "Chuchu".
Junto a este libro, también recomiendo "Las Guerras del General Omar Torrijos" del periodista (y amigo) Zoilo Martínez De la Vega, quien profundiza más en el personaje.
Pd: como este libro originalmente fue escrito a inicios de los 80s, de manera natural se narra lo que hasta este entonces se sabía. Bien sea de la supuesta revolución sandinista o la misteriosa muerte del General, la información que posteriormente surgiría de manera probable le hubiera cambiado ciertas perspectivas a Graham Greene.
March 16, 2021
Graham Greene converts to ceremonial Panamanian ambassador for his man crush Omar Torrijos.
The nation of Panama doesn't capture the imagination as utterly as its Latin American brothers and sisters. It doesn't hold the same mysticism as Peru, the vivacity of Colombia or the revolutionary spirit of Cuba. It does, however, have Omar Torrijos, the subject of Greene’s burgeoning and ultimately tragic Panamanian Bromance.
I was struck by the life of the English writer who becomes some sort of pseudo politico-consultant-rebel co-ordinator for the Central American Left during his handful of visits in the late 1970s. What a remarkable opportunity for a prolific septuagenarian writer.
The characters are an ensemble cast of prominent late-20th century Latin American men. Rum punches with Garcia Marquez, rendezvous with Cayetano and Ortega, and Canal Treaty meetings with Pinochet, Videla and Kissinger are the substance of Greene’s regular forays into Panama as Torrijos’ guest.
The book is peppered with the philosophical musings of another great friend of Greene’s, Chuchu, a Marxist professor and poet who acts as his guide, although not in any moral sense. Chuchu’s and for that matter, Torrijos’ list of wives, partners and mistresses is difficult to keep track of and Greene devotes few words to developing their characters.
Getting to know the General paints a favourable, very human insight into a man who didn’t seem to be just another LatAm Dictator. He was a fervent nationalist who wanted to reduce the influence of the United States on his tiny, yet strategically vital country.
He was a man Greene clearly admired and is perhaps an example of a ‘good’ dictator who pursued positive social change in the name of his people. He was, in Greene's words 'a patriot and an idealist who had no formal ideology, except a general preference for Left over Right and a scorn for bureaucrats.'
As with so much of history, the story of Torrijos is not black and white. We would be wrong to judge him by modern standards, and no two humans are ever subject to an identical reality.
Me and Graham will always agree: Latin America is captivating.
The nation of Panama doesn't capture the imagination as utterly as its Latin American brothers and sisters. It doesn't hold the same mysticism as Peru, the vivacity of Colombia or the revolutionary spirit of Cuba. It does, however, have Omar Torrijos, the subject of Greene’s burgeoning and ultimately tragic Panamanian Bromance.
I was struck by the life of the English writer who becomes some sort of pseudo politico-consultant-rebel co-ordinator for the Central American Left during his handful of visits in the late 1970s. What a remarkable opportunity for a prolific septuagenarian writer.
The characters are an ensemble cast of prominent late-20th century Latin American men. Rum punches with Garcia Marquez, rendezvous with Cayetano and Ortega, and Canal Treaty meetings with Pinochet, Videla and Kissinger are the substance of Greene’s regular forays into Panama as Torrijos’ guest.
The book is peppered with the philosophical musings of another great friend of Greene’s, Chuchu, a Marxist professor and poet who acts as his guide, although not in any moral sense. Chuchu’s and for that matter, Torrijos’ list of wives, partners and mistresses is difficult to keep track of and Greene devotes few words to developing their characters.
Getting to know the General paints a favourable, very human insight into a man who didn’t seem to be just another LatAm Dictator. He was a fervent nationalist who wanted to reduce the influence of the United States on his tiny, yet strategically vital country.
He was a man Greene clearly admired and is perhaps an example of a ‘good’ dictator who pursued positive social change in the name of his people. He was, in Greene's words 'a patriot and an idealist who had no formal ideology, except a general preference for Left over Right and a scorn for bureaucrats.'
As with so much of history, the story of Torrijos is not black and white. We would be wrong to judge him by modern standards, and no two humans are ever subject to an identical reality.
Me and Graham will always agree: Latin America is captivating.
April 2, 2024
More of a travelogue than a discussion of the Latin American politics, whilst there is obviously a friendship between Greene and Omar he spends more time with others in the country, especially Chuchu a confident of the General.
Choice notes
'If the students break into the Zone again I have only the alternative of crushing them or leading them. I will not crush them.' Then he made a remark which he was fond of repeating: 'I don't want to enter into history. I want to enter into the Canal Zone.'
Canal is easy to sabotage Gatán Dam and the Canal will drain into the Atlantic. It would take only a few days to mend the dam, but it would take three years of rain to fill the Canal. During that time it would be guerrilla war; the central cordilleras rise to 3,000 metres and
extend to the Costa Rican frontier on one side of the Zone and the dense Darién jungle, almost as unknown as in the days of Balboa, stretches on the other side to the Colombian border, crossed only by smugglers' paths. Here we could hold out for two years - long enough to rouse the conscience of the world and public opinion in the States. And don't forget - for the first time since the Civil War American civilians would be in the firing line. There are 40,000 of them in the Zone, apart from the 10,000 troops.
Choice notes
'If the students break into the Zone again I have only the alternative of crushing them or leading them. I will not crush them.' Then he made a remark which he was fond of repeating: 'I don't want to enter into history. I want to enter into the Canal Zone.'
Canal is easy to sabotage Gatán Dam and the Canal will drain into the Atlantic. It would take only a few days to mend the dam, but it would take three years of rain to fill the Canal. During that time it would be guerrilla war; the central cordilleras rise to 3,000 metres and
extend to the Costa Rican frontier on one side of the Zone and the dense Darién jungle, almost as unknown as in the days of Balboa, stretches on the other side to the Colombian border, crossed only by smugglers' paths. Here we could hold out for two years - long enough to rouse the conscience of the world and public opinion in the States. And don't forget - for the first time since the Civil War American civilians would be in the firing line. There are 40,000 of them in the Zone, apart from the 10,000 troops.
August 11, 2017
Although the book could do with more of the incredible literary abilities of the author seen in his novels, the insight into what would normally be events happening behind closed doors is second to none. How fascinating that Greene was given such access to important political events and decisions. It is also explains why the Panamanians are so much in love with Torrijos - why he was such a popular leader and has left such a huge mark on the country. Highly recommended if you are visiting Panama or living here - if only to see the contrast with the country as it is now (particularly tourist spots like Bocas Del Too which then were the absolute opposite). And also interesting for those with an interest in that era - as you learn a lot about the effects on various Latin American peoples of their respective dictators.
June 3, 2023
Small wonder where Graham Greene gets his material for his books. He's one of those fortunate people who has lived multiple, adventure-packed lifetimes, and lived to tell the tales. Partial to the political dramas and upheavals of Latin America, In Getting to Know the General I got to know more about Greene as well, from his political leanings, eclectic friendships and bromances, even his drink of choice, as he takes to the dangerous, peripatetic life of Panama's General Omar Torrijos Herrera, the dictator-statesman who fought for his country's full sovereignty over the Panama Canal. Handsome, mysterious, pragmatic, and ruthless, you could say the General was the epitome of a character from a Graham Greene novel. Three and a half stars.
January 24, 2025
Not Greene's best. I read it because I wanted to learn more about Panama, and I did. While this is supposed to be an explanation of why Greene was a big fan of General Herrera, there's no explanation offered. Herrera comes across as a randy, South American dictator, with a different woman he bangs in every town. While elected, sort of, Herrera's approach to the government is that of a dictator with no internal limitations to his authority.
It reduces Greene's standing, in my estimation, that here he pals around with murderers like Castro and Ortega. Greene's lack of introspection here is sad.
It reduces Greene's standing, in my estimation, that here he pals around with murderers like Castro and Ortega. Greene's lack of introspection here is sad.
May 31, 2020
A late memoir about Greene's friendship with the leader of Panama, during the tumultuous time of the Canal Treaty in the late 70s. An amazing parade of characters - Pincohet, Castro, Garcia Marquez, Noriega, even Kissinger glide through the story - and Greene's sensitive eye to detail made this a good read. But I always have the same reservation about the non-fiction of my favorite novelist - for someone who is so curious and eager to learn about other cultures, he has almost no sense of self-reflection. Thus he is always the most boring character in his memoirs.
December 31, 2021
I had avoided this book of Greene's for a long time - because it was not one of novels or even one of his "entertainments." But....I'm so glad I read it. This is an important and thoroughly engaging book about Greene's involvement with Panama's Omar Torrijos. Knowing the further history of that country, it is at once a prescient tale of it's future and a clear indictment of the U.S.'s bloody intervention in South American affairs. It's no wonder that Greene came to distrust and dislike the U. S. He had good reason.
February 15, 2026
Greene's Central America Adventure. 80s and 90s. Intrigue, nefarious characters, noble leadership, political machination. Assassinations, treaties, dictatorial and "deputies". But in this case it's not a work of fiction. The author's memoir of his time spent with Panama leader Omar Torrijos masterfully combines insight into international political intrigue with banalities like bad restaurants and the endless search for a good rum punch. And just like his fiction, it almost all makes sense. I was deep in the weeds with this audiobook, cunningly performed by Elliot Levy.
December 6, 2021
A nice little read. It's a very partial account of his interaction with General Torrijos with an account of his travel in Panama and across Central America. It's astonishing how much of this is still relevant to the region. It's warm, engaging and relatively light. Good fun but not overly serious.
July 8, 2025
“A revolver is no defence”
It is a book that I first knew Graham had a friendship with actual power in Panama - General Omar Torrijos, and his intersections and connections with Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I feel deeply connected with the authors I like and the countries I never visited myself.
“ignorance is good in politics”
It is a book that I first knew Graham had a friendship with actual power in Panama - General Omar Torrijos, and his intersections and connections with Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
I feel deeply connected with the authors I like and the countries I never visited myself.
“ignorance is good in politics”
December 1, 2018
Really cool reminiscence of the five years Greene spent traveling to Panama as well as other parts of Central America and his interactions with General Torrijos between 1976-1980. Wonderful tales. An easy read. More interactions actually with Chuchu the security guard.
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