Despite all, Panama celebrates

This year's patriotic holidays are being celebrated at a time when the national economy is in a sorry state, and when the national government is even worse. As you may see in our Review section, Panamanian school kids put on a good show at the parades. This, despite the efforts of Education Doris Rosas de Mata, the venal mediocrity whose sole qualification for her job is that she's the sister of the president of the MOLIRENA party, which is a junior partner in Mireya Moscoso's failing government.

Actually, however, this says good things about Panamanian students, and indicates that, despite the noxious influences seeping down from the top of the government, there still remain plenty of competent, conscientious and inspiring educators throughout Panama's public and private school systems.

A walk along the parade routes the morning after a weekend of public celebrations in the capital also indicates something good about part of the Panamanian government. Panama City's mayor, Juan Carlos Navarro, has been unable to accomplish many of the things that he set out to do because the nation's weak economy has hammered the city budget by drastically lowering its tax receipts. Yet the parade routes were thoroughly cleaned, and, the mayor had the street sweepers out at work in the neighborhoods as well. Thus while the Moscoso administration is busily lowering ethical, educational and performance standards, the mayor and city council are moving in the opposite direction, despite the disagreements that they have with one another and the great adversity under which they must all work.

Just how great that adversity may be is still an open question. There are signs that the economy might be picking up, but other indicators suggest the contrary. Usually these matters are reported summarily in our Business section, in the business and economy briefs - just because we don't have the time and resources to cover something in depth does not mean that it's not an important story. Anyway, on the eve of our holiday shopping season we saw the Banking Superintendent intervene in two banks, one an Ecuadoran company and the other J.J. Vallarino's Banco DISA. The Ecuadorans look at first glance like fly-by-nighters, but Vallarino has over many decades through many different governments managed to be at the head of the line for American largesse and Panamanian political patronage, and his bank's problems have to be cause for concern throughout Panama's financial services sector. Read the basic facts in our briefs, and look to the partisan daily newspapers for the convoluted spins.

Similarly, a lot of the most important stories also end up as briefs in our News section. This time, for one example, we take notice of specific allegations of large-scale financial transactions in Panama by Colombia's leftist FARC rebels, who get most of their money from taxing the drug trade and collecting ransoms from the families of people whom they kidnap. We also briefly chronicle the further exploits of Eagle, the doberman who sniffs out human remains that powerful political figures have been trying to leave buried. Just the facts.

The Panama News publishes opinions, too. We try to keep them separate from the news, and we try to include many different points of view. The Editorial, Opinion, Review and Dining Out sections are all full of articles about which reasonable people can disagree, as, for that matter, is this Front Page. In this issue's Letters section, for example, a reader presents a different view of offshore financial services empresario Marc Harris than those that have previously appeared in this newspaper. Our Editorial this time concerns Winston Spadafora's qualifications to serve on Panama's Supreme Court of Justice. The Opinion section touches upon the stakes in the struggle between Osama bin Laden and his backers and the United States and its allies, racism in Panama, and more. Our Dining Out page has us getting down to basics in a little neighborhood fonda. The Review section includes not only our cover story, a photo spread on the parades, but also an article about "subversive activities" at said celebrations and our usual collection of cool Internet sites. If people's opinions don't much interest you, you can always turn to the Fun page, wherein Sparky the Wonder Dog expounds a canine perspective.

Are you thinking about traveling to Panama? Consult our Travel page to find out how the Hotel El Panama has become a little more attractive for a certain type of visitor. Look at our Sports section for coverage of Panama's new professional baseball league and a photo story about kids playing cricket in Perejil.

If there's something in all of this that holds your interest, you should think about what you can do to help keep The Panama News alive in these hard times. You might, for example, buy things, like my "9: N" (that's nine degrees north) anthology ($25), William Donadio's "The Thorns of the Rose" ($15), the new trilingual edition of Janet Levi's "Let's Learn Some Kuna Words" coloring book ($3), or your Panama News coffee mug ($10). All of said prices include shipping and handling.

To buy any of these items, or to make your generous contribution toward the cause of independent English-language journalism in Panama, send your checks or money orders to:

The Panama News Apartado 55-0927 Estafeta Paitilla Panama, Republic of Panama

(We have received questions about the safety and efficiency of Panama's mail. It is our experience that checks and books hardly ever disappear, but that cash and CDs almost always do. If you need to deal with an address in the states, that can be arranged. Send me an email at editor@thepanamanews.com .)

Sincerely,