By the time that you see this, the grass will be greener and the guayacan's beautiful yellow blossoms will be gone until next year. The downpours have yet to begin in earnest, but we've already had a couple of rainstorms, the wind is no longer blowing steady out of the north and there are clouds in the sky. It's time to think about planting the 2002 saril crop, and which legumes would best restore the nitrogen where I grew last year's saril.

In several figurative senses, some other Panamanian dry seasons are also lifting.

Do you recall that in the last issue I advised that there would be an important announcement in this issue of The Panama News Online? Well, here goes:

An unexpected source of funding, just enough to publish one print edition of The Panama News, has opened up. I'm working overtime to produce a special print edition, which will hit the streets on or about May 6.

This special edition will not be like the free tabloids that we published every two weeks over the first six years or so of our existence. First, it's a special edition, without the regular content that's found in The Panama News Online --- no calendar, no briefs, nothing that will become dated in two weeks' time. Second, the format will be as a glossy-covered magazine, with color glossy pages and black and white on bond paper pages inside. Third, it will be sold, rather than distributed for free ($1 news stand price, $2 by mail to the United States, with discounts available for bulk orders).

We will not publish the special print edition's content online. The lead story will be an update on the quest to definitively identify that shipwreck near Nombre de Dios that may or may not be Christopher Columbus's Vizcaina. We will have a report on the Enron experience in Panama, and how US taxpayers and Panamanian electricity users may be paying for a questionable deal in the context of a monopoly game that brothers-in-law played with public assets. We will review a restaurant, aspects of Panama's sports and cultural scenes, and Panamanian politics at a most interesting time. R. M. Koster will tell his tale of what happened to Florida State University - Panama, and Willy Gutman will expound on the ethical journalist's lot.

If you want to advertise in our special print issue, you must hurry to get your order to us by April 20, by email or by way of our cell phone (507) 632-6343. If you want to reserve your copy, contact us likewise, or by mail. By the way, Mireya's administration has decided to crack down on small businesses. For years, things sent to us at our mailbox in the name of The Panama News came through just fine. Now, however, they're demanding extra payment to put The Panama News on the mailbox along with the Sun Publishing Corporation (the parent company, as it were), and we first learned about this policy when someone told us that a book order that she seht us had been returned with a notation that The Panama News does not exist at our mailbox. We will pay our tribute because we must, but they may take their time with the paperwork, so for the time being contact The Panama News by mail at:

Another letup in another Panamanian drought of sorts will take place on April 16 in El Cangrejo. One of the first and worst cultural casualties of the current economic crisis was the closing of El Aleph Cafe, but on the 16th the original premises of that establishment, now the Leone di Oro restaurant behind the Einstein head statue, will play host to Luis Arteaga, Dino Nugent, Rómulo Castro, Alexandra Schjellderup and the rest of that music scene that was left without a headquarters by the Aleph's demise. This will be a most important and welcome musical event.

Ah, but all news is not good. Actually, it was hard to find many positive things to say in the news briefs. How can business and the economy be good when President Moscoso is going around saying that nepotism is a good thing? Mireya's in crowd of a few clans are making a total mess of things in Panama, and I'd be dishonest with you if I tried to pretend otherwise.

The world scene is also, in the ancient Chinese sense, "interesting." I watched with horror as the Middle East spun out of control during the Christian Holy Week and Jewish Passover, then covered the political fallout here. The US-backed coup attempt in Venezuela looked like a terrible setback for democracy across the region, but then the counter-coup that put Hugo Chávez back into power may not be the best news for the cause of freedom of the press, either. In both the Middle Eastern and Venezuelan situations, I was nauseated by the crude and obvious slant that Time/Warner/AOL has imposed on CNN, in sharp contrast the editorial policies that prevailed when Ted Turner ran things. For a different point of view, and some very good media criticism with respect to events in Venezuela, check out Al Giordano's take in the Narco News.

I have very mixed feelings about Venezuela. I am for democracy and against military coups. Hugo Chávez was twice elected by landslides and that decision is not for the White House, the Miami Cuban exile leadership, a clique composed of generals and admirals, or the head of the Chamber of Commerce to veto. But on the other hand, Chávez is something of a comic book character, an often obnoxious control freak, and no great friend of a free press. But unlike the usurpers who had control of the country for 28 hours, he was elected by the people.

Sometimes people have to put up with irritations in order to maintain democracy. For example, I didn't vote for Mireya Moscoso and wouldn't, and think that some day she needs to be called to account for the rampant corruption during her administration. What complicates matters here is that the legisature and the courts are every bit as crooked as she is, so there's no obvious institutional remedy for Panama. But still, I'm not for the police overthrowing the government by way of a coup. The situation here is bad, as it is in Venezuela and across much of Latin America, but police states and military dictatorships are not the answer.

Meanwhile, the Panamanian government is moving full speed ahead to muzzle the press --- I guess they figure that's simpler than teaching the politicians to stop making asses of themselves --- and the Committee to Protect Journalists has this to report about it.

Our Community page covers Panama's Chinese community, something that we haven't done in awhile, and never as thoroughly as we should. The Dining section had us in Capira this time. The Science page looks at the ambitious plan to preserve an ecological corridor along the length of the Western Hemisphere. Our Outdoors section gets into end of dry season colors, and our Sports pages look back at this year's cayuco races and at the start of Major League Baseball.

Our Editorial, Opinion and Letters sections are all the usual free-for-all, but I warn you that the last of this issue's letters may horrify you.

I hope to have another interesting (NOT in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse "may you life in interesting times") and positive announcement about this website for you in the next issue, which will appear on or about April 28. It all depends on some experiments that are underway.

Eric Jackson

the editor

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