Panama News Briefs
US Army major assaulted on campus
US Army Major Dana Williams, who said he was in Panama to attend
a baptism and visit friends, says that he wanted to record Panama's
sights to show to friends back in the states. One of the places
he filmed on January 29, however, was in the courtyard of the
Economics Faculty at the University of Panama, where several leftist
student groups have their offices. He was accused of being a spy
by a group of young militants, and his military ID and limited
ability to speak Spanish did not help. By the time that the acting
rector got to the scene, Williams claims, he had been beaten and,
once knocked to the ground, kicked. The major, who suffered a
broken rib, was taken away by police to be questioned and released.
Williams says he'll stay in Panama long enough to press charges
against his assailants. In addition to any legal action, university
rector Julio Vallarino says he's looking into the incident and
may take disciplinary action against the students who assaulted
Williams.
Off-duty cop assalted on campus
On January 30 Police Sergeant Héctor Caballero, who works in the
traffic division, went in plain clothes to the cafeteria in the
Humanities Faculty, where his wife works, while about a dozen
students blocked traffic nearby on the Transistmica. Seen talking
on a cell phone by some of the protesters, he was accused of being
a "sapo" and punched by several students, until the acting rector
and several other university employees intervened to escort him
off of the campus.
Deputies don't get back pay
During the Pérez Balladares administration legislative salaries
were raised, there was a public outcry, and the deputies' pay
was rolled back before the bigger paychecks were ever issued.
Several of the legislators sued for back pay for the weeks between
the raise and the rollback, but that suit was recently thrown
out by the Supreme Court. Legislative Assembly president Laurentino
Cortizo advises his colleagues to accept the verdict, but it's
not entirely certain that they will.
Mayor and council back on job
The Supreme Court has held that prosecutors do not have the power
to remove elected officials from their posts. Thus Colon mayor
Matilde Rosales de Ardines and the entire city council have returned
to their jobs, from which they were deposed by prosecutors after
being accused of wrongdoing in an attempt to issue municipal bonds.
The court did not end the legal proceedings against the elected
officials and several former city appointees, but it did curb
prosecutors' powers to punish public officials before a trial.
The mayor and the others are accused of exceeding their powers,
and might also face fraud charges.
Madriñán in hospital
One of Gamboa's more infamous residents, Noriega's former DENI
chief Nivaldo Madriñán, was recently taken from El Renacer penitentiary
to the Social Security Hospital complex to be treated for kidney
disease. Madriñán is 11 years into a 20-year prison term for the
murder of Father Héctor Gallego. Though doctors say that the former
cop's condition is serious, that medical evaluation is disputed
by the lawyers at the Public Ministry.
No funds for Truth Commission
President Moscoso has a novel way to preserve the impartiality
of the Truth Commission that she created to investigate secret
graves and disappearances from the times of the dictatorship.
She won't fund the investigation. The president says that it's
up to the commissioners to secure foreign funding, complete their
investigation and report within six months.
Graves at David's airport?
In the early days of the former dictatorship, there was guerrilla
resistance in the Chiriqui mountains, and a number of the guerrillas
disappeared. Now a witness has come forward and said that he saw
bodies being buried around David's airport in those years, and
the search for bodies that had been taking place on the grounds
of the old Puma infantry barracks in Tocumen may spread to the
David airport as well. Civil aviation officials warn that before
any such digging begins permits will have to be applied for and
safety issues will have to be sorted out.
Choppers were Venezuelan
Largely due to Plan Colombia, people often make assumptions about
military aircraft seen in and around Panama. Thus the bochinche
mill got working overtime when five military helicopters pulled
into Tocumen on the afternoon of February 3. It wasn't an American
invasion. It was the Venezuelan Army, refueling on its way home
from earthquake relief duty in El Salvador.
Arnulfista constitutional reforms?
At a meeting of Arnulfistas and their allies at the new Decameron
resort in Farallon, a number of legislators and others urged the
president to form a committee to draft a series of constitutional
reforms to be submitted to the voters. The idea immediately drew
fire from the PRD and Christian Democrats who control the Legislative
Assembly, business groups and labor unions, and those who support
attorney Miguel Antonio Bernal's movement for a constituent assembly.
In the past two administrations, presidents have submitted constitutional
reform packages to the voters, only to see them rejected.
Mayor's anti-corruption hotline
Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro has created 800-ALTO (800-2586),
a phone number where citizens may report any type of theft of
municipal property or corruption that involves the city. Navarro
says that he wants to run a transparent administration and meet
the challenge that the country's Roman Catholic clerics made to
the politicians in their most recent pastoral letter.
No US visa for Toro
The decision may have been made by the Clinton administration,
but in any case the Bush administration has gone semi-public about
it: former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares has been denied
a US visa due to his role in the sale of Panamanian visas and
passports to Chinese citizens seeking to illegally enter the United
States. The story appeared in La Prensa, which cited GOP congressman
Dana Rohrabacher and two unidentified US government sources.
