Making way for industry
Balboa's Little League and Fastlich baseball fields are abandoned
and will soon be no more. There will be container parking there
instead, and reasonable people can argue about whether this represents
progress. See the photo feature about railroad construction, an integral part of the Port of Balboa expansion that will swallow
up the ball fields, in our business section.
The business pages also include an article on AMCHAM's new president, plus coverage of Second Vice-President Dominador Kaiser Bazán's remarks at the new officers' installation. Despite the difficult economy,
the AMCHAM installation was very well attended — the Panamanian
business community is hopeful that the new administration in Washington
will pay more attention to Latin America, after several years
in which it seemed as if US policy was reacting to crises rather
than pursuing any positive goals.
My op-ed column this time begins with a quotation for Chairman
Mao. It's apposite to quote the late Chinese revolutionary when
considering the recent beating of an American soldier at the University of Panama, certainly more so than to cite Panama's
laws about assault and battery to some of the young militants.
The other opinion column this time is by Human Rights Watch, which doesn't like to see the World Trade Organization holding
its meetings where political protests are treated as criminal
offenses.
The Ministry of Health is reaching out to indigenous communities these days. Read all about it in the science section, which now
includes health matters. The bugs only nibbled me ever so slightly,
leaving fewer than a dozen welts, when I went to the Darien to
get this story.
Will we get hate mail for this issue's editorial? So be it. Panama's
English-speaking community is a not-always-liked minority, and
its newspaper should speak up whenever another minority finds
itself the target of defamation and discrimination.
Over on the arts and review pages, we don't take up so much space
this time. However, one of the little tid-bits in the arts section
will take you to the works of a couple of our community's best photographers, Landis Major and Pat Alvarado.
Similarly, among the little items in the community section is
an important notice about Panama's effort to assist those left
homeless by the earthquake in Gujarat. A large part of Panama's Hindu community traces ancestry to
that state, to the extent that you'll hear more Gujarati than
Hindi at the Hindu temples in Colon and Panama City. First Vice-President
Arturo Vallarino headed off to the subcontinent with the first
batch of Panamanian aid, but the Sociedad Hindostana is busy collecting
all that it can to help house the hundreds of thousands left without
roofs over their heads.
Does anyone remember the old Tarpon Club marina on the lagoon below the Spillway? Times have changed, but the
place isn't entirely deserted. Get your update from our travel
section. Also note driving conditions to the western Darien therein.
Our neighbors in Colombia play a direct or indirect role in several
of this issue's stories, including the bit about the bus ride
to Embera Puru. In the news section we reprint the nearly unanimous resolution of the European Parliament, one of many signs that Plan Colombia has few backers in the
world. I can't help but feel that our recent campus violence is
in small part prompted by certain people's fears — realistic or
otherwise — that Plan Colombia means US military intervention
throughout the region.
Meanwhile, however, the main focus of US-Panamanian interaction
is economic, not military. The Free Trade Area of the Americas
just opened their offices in the Caesar Park, and AMCHAM events
are drawing good crowds lately. That fact that these offices and
events have not drawn protesters says many things about the hopes
and fears of Panama's disenchanted, and also points out the path
of least resistance to Washington's policy makers.
Let's hope that they're paying attention up there. Reverend Sun
Myung Moon's Insight Magazine and now Congressman Henry Hyde are
alleging undue Chinese influence over Panama (again), so phenomena
that exist mainly in the minds of fanatics may once again overshadow
realities on the isthmus when the Washington pols consider their
policies toward this country. I hope and trust that George W.
Bush, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice are smarter than that.
Eric Jackson
