With the entire legislature under a cloud of suspicion and the subject of several bribery investigations, the Legislative Assembly's Credentials Committee has moved to set a new precendent, by voting to order an end to investigations and prosecutions of its members. In the main event, the legislators held that Article 212 of its own internal regulations, which sets forth the procedures by which the assembly may exercise the power to lift the immunity from prosecution of its members, also gives them the power to quash a criminal case under investigation by prosecutors or pending before the courts. Thus the committee voted to end the bribery investigation to which every one of its members is subject. Later, the committee voted to dismiss pending criminal defamation cases against several legislators and former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares. Attorney General José Antonio Sossa has sued to set aside the committee's ruling, and the effect of that lawsuit, according to many but not all lawyers, will be to paralyze the bribery investigations for the months or years that the matter will be pending before the Supreme Court. Meanwhile legal scholars, the clergy, the press and even one of the intended beneficiaries of the legislative power play, former President Pérez Balladares, have denounced the Credentials Committee's maneuver.

The nation's Administrative Prosecutor, Alma Montenegro de Fletcher, has accepted Arnulfista legislator Jacobo Salas's criminal complaint against Attorney General José Antonio Sossa, which alleges that Sossa exceeded his authority by investigating the entire Legislative Assembly for bribery, rather than just those against whom he had specific evidence. When the legislature was out of session, Sossa subpoenaed all of the deputies bank records and Salas says that was a crime.

On April 16 the Truth Commission released its "Final Report" on human rights abuses during the military dictatorship. The report isn't all that final, however, because dozens of DNA samples are being analyzed at US labs, there are more excavations to be done, and President Moscoso is disposed to give the commissioners the time to finish their work. Meanwhile Attorney General José Antonio Sossa, arguing that the report which documented 70 politically motivated homicides and 40 forced disappearances during the two decades of military dictatorship produced no new evidence, said that there is no reason for him to open or reopen any criminal cases. In addition to the nation's top prosecutor's position that if sufficient proofs to win a court case are not placed on his desk before any investigation starts he won't look into the mattter, a number of cases are probably barred by pardons issued during the Pérez Balladares administration. Moreover, it appears that under Panamanian law, there is no statute of limitations for murder but in a case where a person is made to disappear without a trace there is a statute of limitations. However, there are at least 10 cases in which neither a statute of limitations nor a pardon would apply, and even from among the ranks of the PRD --- most notably from legislator Balbina Herrera --- there are demands that Sossa take action.

On April 26 the Truth Commission unearthed more partial human skeletal remains, bullet shells, what appear to be military dogtags and pieces of apparel from the grounds of the old Puma infantry company barracks. The find was made at a spot where Eagle, the doberman who can sniff out long-buried human bodies, had indicated last November that somebody was buried.

Recently declassified US intellience documents show that the American military here knew beforehand of the October 11, 1968 coup by which officers led by Omar Torrijos and Boris Martínez deposed Dr. Arnulfo Arias, the elected president at the time. The documents, which were obtained by the Truth Commission, showed US cooperation with the efforts to suppress incipient guerrilla resistance to the resulting military dictatorship. They also predicted that Torrijos would emerge as the junta's principal leader, with Rubén Darío Paredes and Manuel Antonio Noriega as Torrijos's likely successors. The reports, by a US military "Intelligence Group 470," call into question US State Department pronouncements during the Carter administration, in which the repression that accompanied the 1968 coup was denied. They also reveal that the coup was in the works from at least March of 1968, which calls into question the long-asserted claim that it was a spur-of-the-moment reaction to Dr. Arias's decision to place a crony at the head of the Guardia Nacional when he took office 11 days before the coup.

President Moscoso has signed a law to prohibit racial discrimination in admission to bars, restaurants and other places of public accomodation. The law must be published in the Gaceta Oficial before it goes into effect, and meanwhile there has been a string of recent complaints about black people being excluded from such establishments as Bennigan's and the Rock Cafe. When the new law goes into effect establishments can be fined $250 for such offenses.

Before the new transparency law went into effect in January, Panamanians had a "right of petition" by which government agencies were theoretically obliged to respond to requests for information within 30 days. The transparency law did not include that time limit, but did not repeal the prior law. Now, in the first habeas data suit to reach the Supreme Court, the magistrates denied the lawsuit to obtain public documents because it was filed less than 30 days before the request, which was denied, had been filed. That case was brought by a doctor against the University of Panama, who wanted information about the grading of his test for certification as a psychiatrist. Meanwhile, arguing that she doesn't have the time to find the information and that implementing regulations for the transparency law haven't been passed, Minister of the Presidency Ivonne Young has withheld requested information about how the presidential discretionary fund was spent in 2001, though the request was made by reporters for La Prensa well over a month ago. After a lawsuit was filed against the Comptroller General's office, that office belatedly released data about the tax exonerations granted to legislators for the cars they purchased.

Legislative Assembly president Rubén Arosemena says that the Legislative Assembly won't vote on any journalism law before the present session ends on June 30, but the proponent of a new journalism licensing law, deputy Denis Arce, is holding hearings featuring members of selected journalists' organizations that would get a piece of the action in the proposed new license issuing scheme. The plan has drawn sharp criticism from journalism and human rights organizations around the world. Meanwhile the Universidad Latina, which doesn't have a student newspaper and whose library's selection of periodicals is limited to years-old offshore finance magazines and very little else, is demanding a seat on the board that would issue licenses.

Criminal charges brought by National Institute of Culture (INAC) director Rafael Ruiloba against La Prensa journalists Manuel Domínguez and Mario Muñoz have been dismissed by a trial court judge. Ruiloba had tried to establish the new crime of "injuria," that is, to make it an offense punishable by a prison term to publish an article that's factually true but which makes a public official look bad. However, Judge Maria Luisa Vijil didn't entirely reject Ruiloba's legal theory: she held that it wouldn't apply in this case, because the articles did not specifically attribute wrongdoing to Ruiloba.

On April 23 the trial of Ubaldo Davis, the editor and publisher of the satirical weekly La Cascara News, began in a Panama City courtroom. Davis is charged by Supreme Court magistrate and former government and justice minister Winston Spadafora with crimes attacking the integrity of the state, criminal defamation and publishing an unregistered newspaper. Basically it's all about a photo montage caricature depicting Spadafora and President Moscoso in bed. If convicted on all charges, Davis could spend many years in prison.

President Moscoso has won the dubious distinction of being listed by the El Salvador-based publication Probidad as one of Latin America's most corrupt public officials, and she's complaining about it. Attacking Probidad, which is associated with the regional Journalists Against Corruption organization, as insignificant and worse, Moscoso denied that she's a crook. The magazine listed Moscoso because she has done nothing about many flagrant scandals in her administration. Those of you who read Spanish may want to go to our Las Noticias de Panama section and read the interesting exchange between Moscoso's office and Probidad.

President Moscoso, in an angry public response to a string of allegations of scandalous activity in her administration, has ordered her ministers and other top officials to respond to each hostile or incorrect allegation made against the government. Alleging a campaign to discredit the government on part of the media, which she called "morbid," the president complained that "first came a campaign against corruption, then later another about nepotism, and later a cheap magazine said I was dying, and now the National Police, and more." See the lead story in this issue's news section about allegations that the National Police were involved in an international gun-running scheme. Moscoso herself has repeatedly refused to discuss allegations of scandal, especially the HP-1430 helicopter insurance fraud affair, and complaints about rampant nepotism such as the presence of at least 14 of her close relatives on the national government's payroll, not counting those who are civil servants who worked for the government before she became president.

An open letter signed by former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares and and about 500 other PRD activists urged the party's legislators not to run for the National Executive Committee. Delivered by former President Aristides Royo and former Government and Justice Minister Renato Pereira to PRD legislative caucus leader Carlos Smith, the letter doesn't mention names but implicitly asks deputies Balbina Herrera, Héctor Alemán, Miguel Bush, Omar Chen and Vincente Magallón to step down and the rest of their Legislative Assembly colleagues not to seek party leadership posts at a convention to be held later this year. Public opinion polls show that the Legislative Assembly's approval rating is in single digits, party discipline has broken down in the PRD legislative caucus and many PRD members believe that without changes in leadership the party is likely to lose the 2004 elections.

Entertainer and activist Rubén Blades, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 1994, says that he supports Martín Torrijos for president in 2004 and that if a government of his liking is elected, he will return to Panama to live and become active in public affairs. He told Agenda magazine that he doesn't intend to join the PRD. Blades's latest project is a role in a Spanish-language movie that's being filmed in Costa Rica.

Education Minister Doris Rosas de Mata, whose brother is the president of MOLIRENA, a junior partner with the Arnulfistas in the Moscoso administration, whose nephew is Vice-Minister of Commerce and Industry and has several other relatives working for the government, has complained about a recent series of articles in El Panama America. The articles about nepotism were illustrated with forests of family trees, showing how a small group of politically well connected families has multiple members in high-paying government posts. Rosas de Mata says the tree showing nine of her relatives working for the government was a low blow, that one official reported to be her brother-in-law is not in fact her brother-in-law, and that her family "also has the right to work," and that those in government "work to the maximum with the greatest honesty and the greatest effort." Meanwhile, more than a month into the school year, teachers without appointments line up outside Ministry of Education offices in Panama City; students, parents and teachers in several schools around the country have walked out over the ministry's failure to fill vacant teaching positions at their schools; and educators' unions complain that teacher appointments are granted or denied on the basis of whether an applicant is willing to join MOLIRENA and pay dues to that political party.

Education Minister Doris Rosas de Mata, who holds her post because her brother is the leader of the MOLIRENA party, is being criticized by teachers and parents for the sixth-grade Spanish text that the ministry has mandated for the public schools. The alleged problem was first noted in Veraguas, where the minister's niece and fellow MOLIRENA hack Coralia Rosas de Cervantes is provincial education director. The complaint is that page 16 of the textbook is illustrated with a picture of a young person participating in a MOLIRENA campaign event.

After a chase that began when a van ran through the Customs stop on the Trans-Isthmian Highway in Colon province, one man was arrested and 43 AK-47 assault rifles and a few hundred rounds of ammunition were seized. Police believe that the arms were headed to the Costa Arriba, where they would then be sold to smugglers who would take them by sea to Colombia. The Atlantic side gun running route is generally used by the right wing AUC paramilitary, who control the coast along the Gulf of Uraba.

Several Colombian families have made their way by land and water to the Darien coastal town of Jaque, after an AUC paramilitary attack in the FARC-held Jurado area killed at least six farmers. Most of the 600 or so refugees in Jaque fled when FARC took Jurado, but generally the Panamanian government sends those who flee from the AUC back to Colombia as quickly as possible. The precise numbers of refugees who come to Panama to escape Colombia's fighting is difficult to figure, because people who stand to be turned over to their enemies as part of a repatriation process tend to hide and to try to make their way to Panama City, and a lot of indigenous Embera and Wounaan families have members living on either side of the border and take in relatives fleeing the fighting without notifying Panamanian authorities or the UN High Commission for Refugees.

Jorge Solis, who headed Nicaragua's state-owned telephone company during the scandal-plagued recent administration of President Arnoldo Alemán, has fled to Panama in the face of multiple criminal investigations and the denial of his application for a visa to enter the United States pursuant to the Bush administration's anti-corruption initiative. It is not known whether Solis will seek asylum here.

The Migration Directorate, which is run by National Police Chief Carlos Barés's wife Ilka de Barés, has deported nine Nicaraguan citizens caught working in Veraguas province without proper immigration status to do so. The Labor Ministry, Migration Directorate and National Police have jointly been conducting inspections and raids at worksites around the Interior, looking for illegal immigrants.

The Migration directorate has deported 45 Colombians who were arrested in a series of raids at Colon's brothels. The Panamanian government issues six-month visas to foreign women seeking to work as prostitutes in Panama, but these women sneaked into the country by sea without going through that official procedure.

National Police Chief Carlos Barés has been elected president of the Police Chiefs' Commission of Central America and the Caribbean. The group promotes cooperation among the region's law enforcement agencies.

On April 18 Rio Abajo's second-term representante, Armando "Toro" Salazar,
died of a stroke. The PRD city council member has been replaced by his suplente, Javier Ortega.

For the second time in less than a year, a fire has swept through the offices of a government agency under investigation for corruption. Last year's fire, officially a case of "spontaneous combustion," was in the administrative offices of the Civil Aviation Directorate, under investigation for the disappearance of at least 300,000 gallons of aviation fuel. The fire on April 23 was at the headquarters of the Agricultural Research Institute ofPanama (IDIAP), where grant money for research projects is said to have disappeared. Bomberos say that the IDIAP fire looks like arson, and meanwhile several IDIAP employees suspected of talking to reporters about the scandal have been demoted and sent to offices in the Interior.

Santa Clara residents opposed to the taking of public parks and a Catholic chapel by lawyer and real estate speculator Jorge Fonseca have taken their case to the municipal authorities in Anton, where they have received a sympathetic hearing. Fonseca, who bought the residue of the company that developed Santa Clara starting in the 1930s, claims that he owns the streets, the access to the beach, the park and the chapel. After official maps were mysteriously altered to eliminate references to the park and chapel, which have been used by the community since at least the 1940s, Housing Ministry official V’ctor Mizrachi issued a permit for Fonseca to convert the park and chapel into a housing development. Such permits, however, must by law be signed by the Housing Minister and not a lesser figure, and in any case don't trump squatters' rights that decades of use would give to a community. La Prensa defended Fonseca's appropriation of the chapel in a racist Easter Sunday article, in which Fonseca attacked community leader Camile Vives, accusing her of having sold land to people of Chinese ethnicity. However, it seems that prejudice against the Chinese is not nearly so strong as revulsion against theft of a Catholic chapel among Santa Clara residents.

This past December the Comptroller General closed down a quarry in Colon province, whose concessionaire was legislator Miguel Bush (PRD-Colon). The plain letter of the law provides that Panama's mineral resources belong to the state and that legislators can't hold government concessions. Moreover, it was alleged that the permit for this particular quarry had expired. Comptroller Alvin Weeden said that the move against Bush was the first of several against concessions illegally granted to public officials, but Bush said it was political pressure related to the vote on President Moscoso's Supreme Court nominees. (In any case, Weeden has taken no further action against other concessionaires.) Bush sued Weeden, and now the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the matter. It seems that the main issue to be argued is whether Weeden followed proper procedures in closing the quarry, rather than whether Bush had a right to operate it in the first place.

It was next to impossible to drive through, into or out of the city of Colon for several hours on April 15, as labor unions, organizations of the unemployed, students, community groups and former gang members staged protest marches and street blockades to demand government action to relieve the area's poverty. The government, whose jobless figures are notoriously low, estimates that there are some 24,000 jobless workers in Colon province, which has a total population of about 180,000.

The movement for a new Panamanian Constitution began with a few gadflies objecting to the way that the present government structure encourages corruption and inefficiency and has entrenched a parisitic political class. Now the movement has captured the imagination of a wide swathe of the country's educated elite, and members of the political class are jumping on the bandwagon. Recently José I. Blandon, head of the Arnulfista legislative caucus, Balbina Herrera, a PRD legislator from San Miguelito and leading party activist, and banker and presidential candidate Alberto Vallarino have all stated their support for a new constitution, for differing reasons and with different ideas about what needs to be changed and how that change should happen.

"Juancho el Lagarto," who was not an alligator but rather a cayman and was one of the top attractions at the Summit Zoo, has died. He was at least 60 years old and about 15 feet long and weighed about 1,500 pounds. Juancho's remains have been dissected by biology students at the University of Panama.

© 2002 by The Panama News All Rights Reserved For information or problems with this page contact: editor@ThePanamaNews.com
News Business Editorial Opinion Letters Arts Reviews Community Fun Travel Galleries Calendar Outdoors Dining Science Sports Español Archive Front Page also in this section: Police implicated in arms smuggling