Martinelli objects to editorial
Mr. Jackson,
I read with great indignation the editorial "Canal expansion
must be transparent" that was in the March 24 to April 6 edition, in which
false opinions and commentaries that attack my honor and that of my family
are run.
In the sixth paragraph of the editorial to which I allude,
[it says]: "Meanwhile, rumors are flying around about Canal Affairs Minister
Ridardo Martinelli or his relatives buying land that wlll be flooded, for
resale at inflated prices. He denies it, but because all information about
every aspect of this project is not available, such talk is likely to persist."
I want to inform you that it is false that I or any member
of my family is or has been buying lands in regions under consideration for
the canal expansion project. It's also false that I have denied anything to
you, not only because you have never interviewed me, but that you have had
the temerity to consign to your editorial the falsity that I have denied insidious
calumnies presumably made by others.
To reproduce such falsities in a mass medium can have a negative
impact on the international scene, by being published in the English language.
I consider it damaging to our country and our canal that you refer to me in
my capacity as Minister of Canal Affairs in this way.
I am announcing that I will file a charge of criminal defamation
against you, and you must at least publish in your next edition a retraction
of these false accusations and give the appropriate clarification of this
error, conscious or not, in your editorial.
Lic. Ricardo Martinelli
Minister of Canal Affairs
Editor's note:
Mr. Martinelli has done a remarkable job of attacking things
that weren't written. This was an editorial, not a news story, and it mentioned
a rumor that is very definitely circulating out there, but which was clearly
identified as a rumor. If I thought that the rumor was true, I wouldn't have
opined that full disclosure could put an end to it. I wouldn't have written,
further down in said editorial, that "we have no reason to believe that the
Panama Canal Authority's management has anything but honorable intentions."
I never interviewed Mr. Martinelli, nor did I ever claim
that I had. He has a valid point about never specifically denying this specific
rumor. Actually, there have been many public accusations of land speculation
in the western canal watershed, including by a member of the Panama Canal
Authority's own study group. The authority and its spokespeople have issued
repeated reassurances in response to these allegations. Still, though Mr.
Martinelli is chairman of the Panama Canal Authority's board of directors,
it was erroneous and unfair to put words into his mouth with respect to a
specific rumor. I apologize for this error, which was unintentional.
It is generally not our policy to acknowledge bochinche,
above all in the disguise of news. However, in this case the rumors are important,
because they illustrate what happens when there is a lack of transparency.
Eric Jackson, BS, JD
Editor, The Panama News
Cedula 3-721-1318
