Getting down to business
This issue gets into the arts, architecture, tourism and more
sports than usual, but most of this is in turn about business.
At The Panama News we have long thought that the most important
story we have to cover is this country's economic development,
and at the moment nothing is more pressing than Panama's general
economic malaise.
It is affecting us. The crisis in the advertising industry has
forced the Panamanian TV stations to reduce their broadcasting
hours, and even the most successful of the daily newspapers aren't
half as thick as they were this time two years ago. As a newspaper
that survives on ad sales, we've been hammered, to the point we
didn't have the money to print the "hard copy" version of this
issue on time. We plan to adjust our print schedule during January
and February, and, God willing, be back on our first and third
weekend of each month routine in March. We plan to continue our
Internet edition's publication schedule as normal, so there will
be one or two issues that exist only online.
If you are inclined to help The Panama News through hard times,
I suggest two possibilities: 1) Buy a copy of "9°N," an anthology of six years of articles, photos and cartoons about
Panama. If ten percent of those who read these words buy a copy,
then our financial crisis will be behind us; or 2) Advertise in The Panama News, not only because you like us but because
people whom you want to reach read us.
This issue's cover story is to be found on the travel page. While I wish that the government tourism bureau, IPAT, would
spend its money on advertising rather than payroll, they are doing
some useful things with their budget. Taking a peek at one of
these worthy expenditures, we observe IPAT's Marty Harrington
introducing some folks from the Darien to the tourism business,
and to the global economy in general, in that article.
Over on the sports page, the two major stories could have gone
elsewhere. Emily Zhukov writes about how corporate sponsors fuel
the growth of Panama's triathlon scene, which got a foothold here because the man who invented the sport
lives in Portobelo. Her story might well have gone on the business
or community pages. My photo story about the practical application
of vernacular architectural techniques in the construction of
an impressive Equestrian Club at Coronado joins Emily's article in the sports section, though it could
have also fit well on the arts, science or even the business page.
Also on the sports page, we have Earl Watson's brief preview of
this year's Floral Games and an update on Eileen Coparropa's fast start to her NCAA swimming career.
This is inaugural season in the United States, and, unexpectedly,
in the Philippines too. We generally don't have the resources
to report on such international events, but surely we look upon
Estrada's fall with hopes that he and his alleged millions don't
land on our shores, and upon George W. Bush's rise with hopes
that whatever changes in US-Panamanian relations flow from it
will be positive ones.
Those of you who have been reading The Panama News print edition
for years may recall that we expressed our editorial disapproval
of the Clinton/Gore 1996 campaign fundraising tactics, but we
waited until March 1997 to do so. In a future issue our editorial
and opinion pages will look back at last year's US presidential
election, unfavorably on my part, but meanwhile George W. Bush
is the only president that the Americans have and he ought to
be given the benefit of the doubt and above all a chance to govern.
One of the things that may or may not change with US administrations
is the American position on the blacklisting of "tax havens," and we address that issue in our business page coverage of a
recent Barbados meeting between OECD officials and representatives
of the blacklisted jurisdictions, among whom Panama figures. In
that section you can also get a peek at El Chorrillo today - or just the other day, anyway - as people contemplate
their higher electricity and telephone bills.
Human rights also play big in the news this time. On the news
page Willy Carrera gets deeper into former Vice-president Ricardo
Arias Calderón's criminal complaint and suit for damages against a La Prensa cartoonist and a number
of other people. The caricature that raised Arias Calderón ire
was, in my eyes, great - but also unfair. I think that the odd
Christian Democrat - Democratic Revolutionary legislative alliance
was a responsible way to address the failure of the La Pintada
Pact, one that does not stain the PDC with the blood of those
who disappeared during the military dictatorship from whence the
PRD arose. But satire is not necessarily supposed to be fair or
accurate, and should not be confused with news reporting.
Arias Calderón has involved the entire Christian Democratic leadership,
including the nation's discredited Attorney General, José Antonio
Sossa, in a most unfortunate attack not only on one cartoonist
or one newspaper, but on all of Panama's creative people. If they
win this one, the precedent will be established to ban most of
Panama's original comedies from the nation's theaters. Really,
this insistence that all cultural discourse must consist of fawning
panegyrics about the self-important elite is but one aspect of
a system of cultural repression and exploitation that has forced
talented Panamanians like Rubén Blades and Danilo Pérez to seek
their fortunes abroad.
All is not lost, however. In the news briefs, you will notice
how Sossa lost big in his criminal defamation case against La
Prensa's Gustavo Gorriti, Miren Gutiérrez, Mónica Palm and Rolando
Rodríguez. They nailed Sossa for denying foreign requests for
help investigating some prominent individuals, and instead of
trying to justify his actions, Sossa tried to have the journalists
who covered the story thrown into prison. The court ruling against
Sossa was a well-deserved slap in the face, but under Panama's
legal system there remain possibilities that the case might be
revived.
Then there is the new Truth Commission, which will investigate
disappearances during the dictatorship. On our opinion pages you
will find the PRD's argument about why the investigation isn't a good idea. In the last issue
we called for such a panel, but people and political parties need
not agree with our editorial policy to expound their views on
our opinion and letters pages.
Finally, another story that has much to do with human rights is
to be found on our community page. Part of the old US Army South
headquarters at Fort Clayton is now home to the George Westerman Center, which recently held its first public event to honor the memory
of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. As you will see, that
one could have easily gone on the arts page, or in the business
section.
Eric Jackson
