The Vasco Núñez de Balboa medal belonging to Alcibíades Picota, national hero of Panama, returns to Panamanian hands, thanks to the support of the ambassador of Panama, Héctor Infante, and the Consul of Panama in Seville Francisco Gandullo Guerra.
The delivery took place at the facilities of the Seville Chamber of Commerce, last Thursday, May 14, an institutional meeting with the Panamanian ambassador to strengthen commercial ties with Seville companies interested in the business opportunities offered by the Central American country.
Ambassador Héctor Infante highlighted that Panama “is a good country to invest in, that is at the service of the world and that makes works like the Canal and others always at the service of the world thanks to an important logistics center and large banks. It is also a global connection center thanks to 93 connections with the world, 16 free trade zones, and five of the most important ports in the Americas. An economy that has important free trade agreements.”
For his part, the president of the Seville Chamber, Francisco Herrero, emphasized “the close relationship that unites us with Panama, allowing in this meeting for our companies to know the current situation of their country and the possibilities it offers for the development of investment and marketing projects.”
Alcibíades Augusto Picota Carrillo (c. 1945 – April 2025) was a prominent national hero of Panama, recognized for his participation in the historic patriotic feat of January 9, 1964. As a student of the emblematic National Institute (known as the “Eagle’s Nest”), Picota was part of the group of young people who challenged U.S. forces to demand that the Panamanian flag be raised alongside the American flag in the former Canal Zone. He was one of the six students who bravely carried the national flag in that event.
The Panamanian hero spent his last years residing in Seville, Spain, where he served as Consul General of Panama. He passed away in Spain in April 2025. Subsequently, his ashes were repatriated to Panama and received with state honors by the Foreign Ministry at the National Sanctuary of the Heart of Mary.
The medal was guarded by a close and personal friend of Alcibiades, Raúl Morales, an Ecuadorian doctor based in Seville at the same time as the Panamanian hero, with whom he worked for many years. Because of her close relationship, Alcibiades decides to ask his friend to take care of her because he was in a social assistance residence in Seville, where he spent his last years until his death.
Raúl Morales always had the idea to return it to the family of Alcibíades Picota by personally going to Panama, but being already old, he has preferred to give them in Seville to ambassador Héctor Infante, who since his arrival in Spain was interested in this case, got to know the doctor Morales and support him, by instructions of the chancellor of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha. The delivery was coordinated with the mediation of the Honorary Consul of Panama in Seville, Francisco Gandullo.
