Carlos Francisco Chang Marín or Changmarín (born February 26, 1922) is a Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

nian folklorist, painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, musician

Musician

A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, activist and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 of poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

, essays and children's literature

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

.

His writing, which has been described as close to the people's voice, portrays the class struggle

Class struggle

Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....

 and the search for social justice of his countrymen and working class

Working class

Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...

 people of the world. His work usually mixes descriptions of the Ibero-American countryside and simple life

Simple living

Simple living encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify one's lifestyle. These may include reducing one's possessions or increasing self-sufficiency, for example. Simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they need rather than want...

 beauty with naive humour and optimism with proletarian revolution

Proletarian revolution

A proletarian revolution is a social and/or political revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists, communists, and most anarchists....

 conclusions and tone. This makes his work very popular among the intellectual middle classes and the working classes, specifically the campesinos (countryside people), who identify themselves with Changmarín's personality and language. Changmarín was himself born and raised in the countryside of Panama.

Politically persecuted in the past, Changmarín's contributions to Panamanian culture and folklore added to his internationally-recognized talent and forced otherwise antagonistic institutions such as the government to recognize his achievements. He has won several national awards (see Awards below).

Biography

Changmarín is the artistic name used by Carlos Francisco Chang Marín, which comes from merging both of his surnames (from his paternal surname "Chang" and maternal surname "Marin"). It expresses his mixed (Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 and Creole

Creole peoples

The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...

) heritage.

Changmarín was born in Santiago de Veraguas

Santiago de Veraguas

Santiago de Veraguas is the capital of the Panamanian province Veraguas. Santiago is located in southern Veraguas near the provincial border with Herrera. The city has approximately 60,059 people according to the Panama 1990 Census. Santiago is one of the oldest settlements in Panama. The...

, Panama, being the second son of an out-of-wedlock union between Carlos Chang, a rich, Chinese-Panamanian merchant, and Faustina Marin, a campesina. He grew up among his mother's family, being unable to be acknowledged in public by his father under the conservative values of Panama's countryside of the early 1920s. However, later his father decided to take him from his mother when he was still a child and sent him to live with a paternal aunt. His aunt was brutally abusive, treating him basically as a slave, constantly humiliating his mixed heritage and his mother's social status. The father, although not participating in the abuse, provided no protection from it and even promoted this behavior in some cases.

It is not known when Changmarín left his aunt's house, but he went to Panama City

Panama City

Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...

, where he did a series of odd jobs. One of these jobs included working at the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 under the supervision of U.S. managers, where he witnessed the unfair and abusive conditions between the U.S. personnel and the non-U.S. workers. This added to similar experiences he had had while living with his aunt, who belonged to the richer sector of her hometown. He became determined to establish his proletarian struggle visions and political activism.

Changmarín returned to formal education at the Juan Demostenes Arosemena Normal School (founded in 1938). He was mentored by intellectuals from South America and Europe, most of whom were victims of European fascism

Fascism

Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...

, which helped to consecrate and refine his ideals. He also undertook brief studies in the Panama National Conservatory of Music, which he did not complete.

Between 1940 and 1950, Changmarín worked as a teacher in several provinces, where he organized the student movement in strikes to denounce key issues regarding the country's social problems. This resulted in his being fired from his post.

During this period, he was incarcerated several times, but this did not stop him from working in several jobs while in prison. He estimates that he spent some four years of his life behind bars. After being in and out of prison under political charges, Changmarín was finally exiled to Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 in 1968. While living there, he studied painting at the Universidad National de Chile and became very active in the Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....

 presidential campaign.

Once he was allowed to return to Panama, Changmarín established himself in several leadership and organizational roles within the Communist movement. He continuously worked in his artistic endeavours to deliver social and cultural messages. During this period resulted he was nationally recognized as one of the persons responsible for the Panama Canal struggle against the United States. This struggle ended with the United States returning the operational control of the Canal Zone

Panama Canal Zone

The Panama Canal Zone was a unorganized U.S. territory located within the Republic of Panama, consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending 5 miles on each side of the centerline, but excluding Panama City and Colón, which otherwise would have been partly within the limits of...

, which used to be forbidden for Panamanians.

Changmarín is currently living in his birthtown of Santiago de Veraguas. With his companion Eneida Romero, he continues to write, paint and participate in political and ecological commentary and activism. The couple has five children, with four of these still living. In addition, it is well known that Changmarín has a passion for nature in general, with a predilection for orchids.

Writings

As one of the main Panamanian writers, his work in literature is prolific. During his career, Changmarín has touched on different genres and styles.

Poetry

Changmarín started writing poetry by the time he was in college (Juan Demóstenes Arosemena

Juan Demóstenes Arosemena

Juan Demóstenes Arosemena Barreati was President of Panama from October 1, 1936 to December 16, 1939. He belonged to the National Liberal Party...

 Normal School

Normal school

A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...

), mentored at that early period of his artistic life by South American and European

European ethnic groups

The ethnic groups in Europe are the various ethnic groups that reside in the nations of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....

 teachers, the latter mainly being expatriated victims of the fascist Spanish Franquism. While still in college, he received an honored mention for his participation in the 1942 Ricardo Miró

Ricardo Miró

Ricardo Miró , is a Panamanian writer and is considered to be the most noteworthy poet of this country....

 National Awards with a submission of a book containing poetry entitled Punto e' llanto.

At this stage, his work was considered to be part of the Ibero-American's post-vanguardists Second World War authors according to several scholars. Being under the vanguardist influence, his poetry developed a tone of despair with a very obvious revolutionary intent.

Dimas L. Pitty, in his book Letra Viva, describes Changmarín's work as a creation where "the art is not the reality, but reality's reflection as an artistic image, marked with the author's subjectivism

Subjectivism

Subjectivism is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law. In extreme forms like Solipsism, it may hold that the nature and existence of every object depends solely on someone's subjective awareness of it...

 and ideological views; it is also his fiction".

As a writer, poetry is basically Changmarín's fundamental tool of expression. Once established as a consecrated poet, he reached an outstanding moment in his creation with the book of poetry entitled Poemas Corporales (Corporeal Poems), which was awarded the Ricardo Miró National Award in 1955. With this work, Changmarín showed himself as a developed poet who has achieved great control over this literary form. Changmarín leaves out as much as possible, which mirrors the trends of the time. This clarity serves as a method to deliver the social and political messages, as most of his works are fundamental. His mastery of the decasyllable

Decasyllable

Decasyllable is a poetic meter of ten syllables used in poetic traditions of syllabic verse...

 writing imprints Poemas Corporales with a classical accent comparable to the Quevedo Verses.

Short Stories

Changmarín's short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 collections are quite numerous and touch upon several themes and scopes. He tries to recreate the countryside storytelling

Storytelling

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...

 and atmosphere to expose the problems concerning land ownership and exploitation suffered by the countryside people. The latifundia

Latifundia

Latifundia are pieces of property covering very large land areas. The latifundia of Roman history were great landed estates, specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, olive oil, or wine...

 is still very common in Ibero-America. It is endorsed by the government, religious as well as right-wing policy-makers (who generally represent the rich sectors of the society) and transnational corporations.

As are most of his works, the short stories are highly political in nature, describing and portraying historical events, as seen in his compendium Noche Buena Mala. Here, stories are related to the events of the 1989 U.S. Military invasion of Panama in (December 20, 1989).

When not being used as a way to deliver and expose political, historical and eco-humanistic paradigms, his short stories have been described to be highly emotional and profoundly radical in form. An example of this is his work Seis Madres, possibly being the most researched and analyzed of his works in this genre. It has been described as written by bursts of raw emotions; an anti-story, and as the first Panamanian short story that could be used to formulate a theory regarding the creative writing process.

Novels

Changmarín has published three novels. He mainly writes in a historical narrative style which has been praised by critics for its attention to detail in the description of the physical frame (flora, fauna, geography) as well as the cultural frame.

His latest novel, targeted mainly to young readers, Las Gracias y las Desgracias de Chico Perico (2005), had a more autobiographical approach.

Children's literature

Having published several books dedicated to reach the youth, Changmarín tries to deliver his social messages in order to promote human sensibilities and awareness to all ages. Through children's literature, he takes advantage of his pedagology formation by using a profound knowledge of the popular and simple art and language.

Using attractive illustrations (hand-drawn by himself) and a short-chapter format to ease the interest of young readers, Changmarín has published in several fields, from poetry to history books. Many scholars consider his children's literature works an expression of his tender side without losing his message and they place many of his works in this area as jewels of Panamanian literature.

Part of his creation in this field is inspired by his own experiences as a child and by the constant interaction with his own grand and great-grandchildren, to whom most of these books have been dedicated.

Highly recognized in this area are his poems Las Tonadas y los Cuentos de la Cigarra (1975) and La Muñeca de Tusa (2001) and the novels El Cholito Que Llegó a General (1978) and Las Gracias y las Desgracias de Chico Perico (2005).

Essays

Changmarín's works in the field of essays concentrate on the folkloric

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, art

Art

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

istic, historical

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and political

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 areas. Many of his essays have been published in international magazines and newspapers.

Most of his political essays deal with the relations between the United States of America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

's policies toward the Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 and Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 in general, as well as its economic models and the impact these have in the region.

As a strong proponent of socialism

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

, Changmarín's conclusions portray a critical view to the current international policies of the United States and other pro-globalization

Globalization

Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...

 countries and organizations such as World Trade Organization

World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade , which commenced in 1948...

, International Monetary Fund

International Monetary Fund

The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...

 and World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

.

Journalism

As a journalist, Changmarín has a long history contributing with commentaries and opinions appearing in several Panamanian and international newspapers, especially the Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n newspaper Granma

Granma

Granma may refer to:*Slang for grandmother*Granma , a yacht in which Fidel Castro and his revolutionary expedition sailed to Cuba in 1956**CF Granma a Cuban football club...

. He is highlighted among several others by (Milciades Amores C, Mario Riera Pinilla, Alejandro Chock Valdés, Gonzalo Castro

Gonzalo Castro

Gonzalo Castro Randon is a German footballer of Spanish descent, he currently plays as a defender for Bayer Leverkusen.- Career :He made his UEFA Champions League and Bundesliga debuts at the age of 17....

, René González

René González

René González was a Cuban professional baseball player. A native of Cienfuegos, Cuba, González was a first baseman/outfielder who batted and threw right-handed....

 and Eustolio Darío Him) as a pioneer of the Prensa Chica (small press

Small press

Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...

) movement in Panama, with his participation in El Cholo newspaper.

For several years, he had his own newspaper column, Las Famosas Cartas a Tula (The famous letters to my Aunt Tula), in one of the most widely-circulated newspapers, La Critica. His column was popular due to his humorous approach to contemporary problems.

Parallel to his contributions to the mainstream media

Mainstream media

Mainstream media are those media disseminated via the largest distribution channels, which therefore represent what the majority of media consumers are likely to encounter...

, Changmarín founded and directed the weekly bulletin Unidad, an information bulletin publication for the Panamanian Communist Party.

Music

In the field of music, Changmarín has produced a long list of compositions, both in writing lyrics and creating the musical arrangements. One of his best-known creations comprise the lyrics for Tio Caiman, made famous by the Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

an group Quilapayún

Quilapayún

Quilapayún are an instrumental and vocal folk music group from Chile and among the longest lasting and most influential exponents of the Nueva Canción Chilena movement. Formed in Chile during the mid-1960s, the group became inseparable with the revolution that occurred in the popular music of the...

. The piece has also been recorded in Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

, Nicaragua

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...

, Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, and Panama by several music groups. The piece is sometimes sung by spectators in soccer matches and performed at music concerts across Ibero-America. Changmarín is hardly known as the creator, but this is a credit that he does not pursue. The Panamanian Birthday Song, recorded by the DEXA orchestra directed by Edgardo Quintero, is also one of his creations and is considered to be a unique contribution to the Panamanian culture and identity.

Another of his records is Alma Panameña, which was produced as part of the cultural development programs of the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 and PROAPEMEP.

Décima

Changmarín is a broadly recognized décima

Décima

A décima refers to a ten-line stanza of poetry, and the song form generally consists of forty-four lines...

 composer in Panama. His interest in this field is related to his folklore research and he has been promoting the recognition of this form of expression of the countryside people for more than half a century. As the main coordinator for the Veraguas delegations in the Mejorana National Festival (since 1950), he has become a one-man cultural institution in this art form.

Changmarín is the only Panamanian décima composer who has published three books dealing with décima composition as well as décimas compilations. The books Socabón, Décimas Populares para Cantar (1959), Los Versos del Pueblo (1973) and Cantadera, 130 Décimas para Cantar (1995) have been used as references and inspiration to generations of décimas performers.

Political

Changmarín's political activism reached an important moment in his life with the foundation of the Panamanian Communist Party (Partido del Pueblo) in 1950. Since communism was outlawed at that time by Panamanian law, this initiative was forced to be conducted secretly. The Panamanian government reacted to the growing dissent and communist organization in the countryside by increasing repression, reaching the extremes of perpetrating political assassinations and disappearances

Forced disappearance

In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

.

Changmarín used his writings as his main weapon for resistance. For years, he used politically-charged décimas as means to educate the people about identity and the struggle at hand. Que se vayan del Canal (I wish they would just leave from the Canal) and Quiero Sembrar un Maíz (I want to plant corn in the Canal Zone) were the songs of the protests against the constant abuse by the United States.

His clear and direct writing form serves as a tool for the constant struggles and protests that were taking place in Ibero-America during the 1970s and 1980s. The décima, having a bard

Bard

In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...

-like effect as an artistic expression and Changmarín having mastered the form, managed to merge it with the social angst-ridden echoes of the dispossessed and the nationalist feelings of the people to "incense a protest in each fist and a march in each step".

Ecological

Changmarín is a strong proponent of an environmental-friendly way of life and critic of the consumer-oriented free market and industrialization. Having a strong emotional connection with the countryside environment, he actively participates in radio shows commentaries about the topic.

Moreover, he expresses an integrated relationship between culture and nature, rejecting the industrial Western concept of progress, instead promoting the philosophy of simple life. Although he has never openly endorsed Anarcho-Primitivism

Anarcho-primitivism

Anarcho-primitivism is an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization. According to anarcho-primitivism, the shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural subsistence gave rise to social stratification, coercion, and alienation...

, there are clear correlations between his views and the movement.

Poetry

• Romance de la Niña Perdida
• Punto ‘e llanto (1942)
• Poemas Corporales (1956)
• Socabón. Décimas para Cantar (1959)
• Los Versos del Pueblo. Décimas (1972)
• Versos para Entrar a la Zona del Canal (1972)
• Crónica de Siete Nombres Memorables (1980)
• El Gallo de las Horas (1993)
• Cantadera – 130 Décimas para Cantar (1995)

Short Stories

• Faragual y otros cuentos (1960)
• La Mansión de la Bruma, Cuentos de la cárcel. Publicada en ruso (1965)
• Nochebuena Mala (1995)
• Las Mentiras Encantadas (1997)
• Cuentos para Matar el Estrés (2002)

Children's literature

• Versos de Machachita; poetry (1974)
• Las Tonadas y los Cuentos de la Cigarra; poetry (1975)
• El Cholito que Llegó a General; novel (1978)
• Las Tonadas y los Cuentos de la Cigarra; poetry (1993)
• La Muñeca de Tusa; poetry (2001)
• Muñeca de Tusa; poetry (2003)
• Las Gracias y las Desgracias de Chico Perico; novel (2005)

Essays

• Base Social de la Décima en Panamá (1965)
• Algunas Áreas Folclóricas de Veraguas (1975)
• Panamá 1903-1970 (1979)
• Victoriano Lorenzo, Primera Víctima del Canal Norteamericano (1980)
• Vigencia de la Décima en Panamá, en Itinerario de una Nación 1903-2003 (2003)

Ricardo Miró National Award

• 1942: Honorable mention: Punto ‘e Llanto (poetry)
• 1956: Second Prize: Poemas Corporales (poetry)
• 1959: Second Prize: Faragual (short story)
• 1981: First Prize: El Guerrillero Transparente (novel)

Other awards

• 1976: Special Prize at the Cuban Workers Centre's Rubén Martínez Villena Awards (poetry category)
• 1998: Dora Zàrate Award for his contribution promoting national identity and culture
• 2002: Ester María Osses Award of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (National Culture Institute), Panama (children's literature category)
• 2002: Universidad 2002 Award of the Universidad de Panamá
• 2002: Medal of Honour of the Asociación Nacional de Poetas de la Décima (Décima Poets National Association), Panama
• 2003: Labour and Effort Award and recognition in the Chinese-Panamanian community of Asociación China de Mujeres Profesionales (Chinese Association of Professional Women), Panama
• 2003: Recognition from the Santiago de Veraguas Municipal Council
• 2004: Medal and recognition of the Cuba Republic State Council
• 2006: Omar Torrijos Herrera National Order of the Panamanian government

In addition to these awards, several public and private libraries have been named after Changmarín.