Despite the recent increase of research on Truth Commissions, little attention has been focused on their mission of making recommendations for reforms that would help prevent future human rights abuses and state-sponsored repression. This is a case study that approaches the process of implementation of recommendations Panama, whose truth commission was established more than a decade after the fall of the last dictatorship. Firstly, using qualitative methods, mainly semi-structured interviews and text analysis, the study assesses the extent to which the implementation process can be seen as successful and, secondly, how this result can be connected to a combination of factors: political will, victims associations’ pressure, legitimacy of the Truth Commission and adaptation to the percepts of International Law. Despite the late date of the organization of the Truth Commission in Panama, which would allow the speculation that the earlier non-democratic power structures and actors have been altered and/or intimidation of HR and victims’ organizations has ceased as well as democratic institutions have had time to develop and consolidate, the implementation process has stalled. The main finding is that the implementation process is entirely politically motivated, the other variables acting as support elements for it. In that regard, the implementation has been hindered by the return to power of the main party of the dictatorship, PRD, which used the discredit of the Commission drawn from the charges of fraud brought against it as a pretext for neglecting the recommendations. The limited impact of the victims’ associations over the political class and the Courts has also affected the implementation in a negative way. Recently, the governing alliance has opened up a dialogue process with the victims’ associations in order to fulfill some of the recommendations with the inherent goal of limiting the power of the main opposition party, the PRD.
