Chen pans critics, promotes economic ties
During a three-day visit here, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian criticized
picketers who favor unification of the island with the Peoples Republic of
China, maintaining that they "don't know what they're talking about"
and the the great majority in Taiwan is against its absorption into China;
received a key to Panama City and remarked that Juan Carlos Navarro may be
president of Panama some day; expressed Taiwan's desire to invest in the Panama
Canal's modernization and other development projects here; and received the
Moscoso administration's assurances that Panama will retain its diplomatic
ties with Taiwan and push for Taiwanese membership in the United Nations.
The visit was also the occasion for criticism of Panama's China policy by
Christian Democrat leader Ricardo Arias Calderon (who argued that China is
a more important business partner than Taiwan and that most of Panama's Chinese
community has roots on the mainland), former President Jorge Illueca (who
argued that maintaining ties with Taiwan isolates Panama in international
diplomatic circles), and Legislative Assembly president Laurentino Cortizo
(who complained that Taiwan hasn't invested as much as was expected in Colon).
Sossa attacks press, OAS officials
In interviews with the Washington correspondents for La Prensa and El Panama
America, Attorney General Jose Antonio Sossa said that the Panamanian press
has a "mafia" that "can only be extirpated with criminal laws."
Interviewed by La Prensa's Betty Brannan Jaen, Sossa maintained that she wasn't
really a journalist because her university education is in law rather than
journalism. Accusing OAS special rapporteur on freedom of the press Santiago
Canton and the entire Inter-American Human Rights Commission of bias, he alleged
that the treatment of libel and slander be treated as civil rather than criminal
matters --- which is the way things are handled throughout most of the Americas
--- is an idea that was invented by Canton and the commissioners.
Journalist sentenced, pardoned
On June 7 President Moscoso pardoned journalist Marcelino Rodriguez, who had
two weeks earlier been sentenced to 16 months in prison by Magistrate Ileana
Turner Montenegro for criminal defamation of Administrative Prosecutor Alma
Montenegro de Fletcher. Rodriguez wrote a series of articles in El Siglo in
1998 about how politicians and other people with connections to the former
Perez Balladares had received houses at Albrook and elsewhere in the Reverted
Areas without going through the credit qualification and bidding processes
that most people were required to do, and, based on an otherwise accurate
source's error, falsely reported that Montenegro de Fletcher got a house in
this manner. Actually, it was Montenegro's sister who received a house outside
the normal procedures. The sentence aroused a storm of protest in the Panamanian
media and from international journalists' and human rights groups, and upon
receipt of a letter from Montenegro de Fletcher calling for clemency for Rodriguez,
Moscoso pardoned him.
Inter-American Human Rights Commission visits
On June 6 through 8 the Inter-American Human Rights Commission visited Panama
to hear public complaints, investigate a number of concerns that they have,
and meet with top public officials. During two days of hearings the commission
heard representations about the treatment of Colombian refugees, prison conditions
in Panama, the mass firings of public employees, the progress of investigations
into the fate and whereabouts of political dissidents who disappeared during
the time of the military dictatorship, the concerns of people who would be
displaced by the Panama Canal watershed expansion project, lax enforcement
of environmental laws, government favoritism in purchasing newspaper ads,
wiretapping, old age pensions and the use of criminal defamation and disrespect
laws against journalists. President Moscoso met with the commission on June
7, at which time its chairman, Claudio Grossman, called upon her to repeal
the disrespect laws and change the libel and slander laws to provide civil
rather than criminal remedies for defamation.
Radiation ODs attributed to human error
Investigators from the Health Ministry, who were assisted by the International
Atomic Energy Agency, have determined that a series of human errors were responsible
for radiation overdoses received by patients at the Instituto Oncologico Nacional.
Blaming at least eight people, investigators found that computer readings
of radiation levels were never manually checked, that there was no procedural
manual for users of the machine in question, and that the hospital didn't
have a quality control program in place. The ministry said that steps have
been taken to remedy those problems, and did not rule out disciplinary procedures
against technicians, doctors and administrators.
RP-Cuba relations strained
Fidel Castro's allegation that Panama's refusal to extradite four men accused
of plotting to assassinate him during a visit to the University of Panama
makes the Panamanian government "complicit in impunity" has drawn
sharp rebukes from the Panamanian government. "Castro rules his country,
but we have our laws here, and no foreigner, neither he nor anybody else,
is going to tell the government of Panama how we have to act," President
Moscoso replied. Government and Justice Minister Winston Spadafora called
Castro's remark "in bad taste." Cuba harbors several former Panamanian
military officers who are wanted for crimes here, which leads many people
here to consider his remarks hypocritical. However, one of the four suspects,
Luis Posada Carriles, is an escapee from a Venezuelan jail, where he was awaiting
trial on accusations that he planted a bomb on a Cubana civilian passenger
plane, killing 73 people. Moscoso decided not to extradite Posada Carriles
because in Cuba he would face the death penalty. Cuban-Panamanian relations
have also been aggravated by the Moscoso administration's false accusation,
which was published without a byline in La Prensa and has not been retracted,
that a Cuban embassy official incited and paid for the recent violent protests
against urban bus fare increases.
Argument over alleged swindler's expulsion
Two of the Legislative Assembly's lawyers, Miguel Bush (PRD-Colon) and Jose
Blandon (Arnulfista-Panama City) recently turned the assembly floor into something
that looked like a courtroom to argue the case of one Chi Weng Wong, also
known as Quian Hong Lu. Chi, who has been wanted by the People's Republic
of China since 1993 for allegedly swindling a number of people there to the
tune of $50 million. Chi, who had tried to enter the United States on a Panamanian
passport, was sent back to Panama by American authorities and then detained
here, then summarily sent to China by this country's immigration authorities.
Bush argued that the man was a Panamanian citizen, or at least arguably so,
and thus had a right to a full court hearing and if he was in fact a citizen
he had a constitutional right not to be extradited. The deputy from Colon
also produced a tape which he claimed indicated that Panamanian authorities
were bribed or blackmailed into turning Chi over to China. Blandon, on the
other hand, produced documents which he said proved that Chi was not a Panamanian
citizen and had obtained his passport by fraudulent means. Meanwhile, once
Chi was back in China, it was announced that he would be executed. With non-Chinese
fugitives, it has been the Moscoso administration's policy not to deport or
extradite them to countries where they face the death penalty. The Supreme
Court has intervened, demanding that the Migration Directorate explain its
actions in the case.
Kunas ban Witnesses
The Kuna General Congress has banned all activities by the Jehovah's Witnesses
in Kuna Yala. The congress said that the religious sect wouldn't sign an accord
with them, and that it does not respect Kuna traditions. Several Christian
denominations conduct missionary work in Kuna Yala, and the congress left
the door open for an agreement that lifts the ban. However, the Jehovah's
Witnesses believe that the only government worthy of recognition is the Kingdom
of God, and thus refuse to sign agreements with governments wherever they
go in the world.
Fire destroys DAC records
Just as an audit was looming over the Civil Aviation Directorate (DAC), a
fire swept through the records and computer areas on the third floor of that
agency's headquarters at Albrooks building 805. Though legislator Balbina
Herrera (PRD-San Miguelito) called the fire "suspicious," the bomberos'
Security Office said that no evidence of arson was found and that the blaze
was probably the result of spontaneous combustion. The building had passed
a fire inspection earlier this year.
SAN fuel reported missing
El Universal reports that some 26,000 gallons of aviation fuel are missing
from the National Air Service, the nation's aerial police patrol that is also
in charge of presidential aircraft. Earlier this year a helicopter fell out
of a presidential entourage into the sea off Rio Hato, and it appeared that
it was unregistered but nevertheless fueled from the SAN's pumps. There is
a long history of the service's aviation fuel being used to fill up the private
aircraft of well connected individuals, dating back through several administrations,
but the current alleged problem may mostly be one of lax record keeping. President
Moscoso refuses to answer questions about the ill-fated mystery helicopter.
Hospital supervisors busted for theft
The maintenance and cooling supervisors at Baru's Dionisio Arrocha Hospital
have been arrested for allegedly selling hospital equipment on the black market.
The men deny the accusations.
Koster quits Truth Commission
Otilia de Koster has resigned from the Truth Commission that was appointed
to investigate the disappearances of more than 100 dissidents during the era
of the military dictatorship. She cited disagreements with the way that the
investigation is being handled, and added that she thinks the 1994 trial in
which three ex-soldiers were convicted for Father Hector Gallego's disappearance
was bungled and should be reviewed.
Another refusal for anti-corruption post
Attorney Tomas Herrera is the latest of Mireya's nominees to turn down the
post of National Anti-Corruption Director, saying that if he accepted the
post it would adversely affect his ability to practice law. It appears that
there is an expectation that whoever takes the job will investigate abuses
during the Perez Balladares administration but not the Moscoso or Endara governments,
and that after the next elections the anti-corruption czar would face retribution.
Moscoso's popularity wanes
A CID-Gallup poll commissioned by El Panama American and TVN has found President
Moscoso has a public approval rate of only 25 percent, against a 62 percent
disapproval rate. The poll also found that 59 percent of those questioned
would leave Panama if they could. Both results are in part the result of the
country's economic crisis.
