Tomás Armuelles

Tomás Armuelles Pérez was a Panamanian colonel who served in the Thousand Days' War and Coto War. He was a notable figure in the Coto War, being the chief of the Chiricana Police by the time the war broke out.

Biography Tomás was born at September 18, 1876 at Las Lajas, Panama State, Colombia, as the son of Fidel Armuelles and María de los Santos Pérez. In 1900, during the Thousand Days' War, he joined the liberal forces of Belisario Porras that arrived at Punta Burica from Nicaragua. He was part of the "Líderes de Chiriquí" battalion and was under the orders of General Manuel Quintero Villarreal, fighting in the Battle of La Negra Vieja, the Battle of Corozal and in the Battle of Calidonia Bridge where the liberals were defeated on July 26, 1900.

After the Liberal defeat, Armuelles withdrew to civilian life until in 1902, he returned to join the Liberal forces of General Quintero Villarreal, stationed in the Charco Azul Bay until the end of the war.

Due to the tragedy, a general mourning was decreed for nine days by the Panamanian National Police and it was decided to rename the port of Rabo de Puerco as Puerto Armuelles in his honor by the decree of Special Law No. 27 in 1924.