At a recent summit involving European and Latin American heads of state that was held in Madrid, the Panamanian delegation included 53 people, reportedly among whom were the two newest Arnulfista Supreme Court magistrates, Winston Spadafora and Alberto Cigarruista. The expense of the large delegation and the presence of top judges in a political delegation have been widely criticized, and not only by opposition PRD leaders. Meanwhile, the Moscoso administration is not answering questions about the delegation, but is issuing statements by way of the vice-presidents defending international travel in general as an activity that brings foreign aid and business to Panama.

Mireya Moscoso, who signed a Transparency Law last January, came back from a Madrid summit to which she was accompanied by a 53-member entourage and signed a set of regulations that ensure that the public will not have the right to know the expenses of the junket. In regulations to implement the Transparency Law, the president provided that the salaries, benefits, bonuses and travel expenses of public officials shall be secret. The regulations also require that a person seeking information under the new law must show that he or she bears some relationship to the information sought, which means that the press and general public will not have the right to information about government operations unless they can show that they are directly and personally affected. The new regulations have elicited protests from most of Panama's news media, many civic and religious leaders and international press freedom and human rights groups. Probably the most influential complaint about the new regulation came from the Catholic church's Justice and Peace Commission, which said that the rules will promote "acts of corruption."

In the latest of a series of decisions that limit the recently passed Transparency Law, the Supreme Court has sided with Comptroller General Alvin Weeden and legislator Enrique Garrido against a citizen who wanted to see Garrido's statement of wealth. Such statements must be filed by legislators, government ministers and some other public officials, as a supposed safeguard against conflict of interest and unexplained accumulation of wealth while in public office. However, conflict of interest and unexplained accumulation of wealth by public officials are key principles of Mireya Moscoso's administration, and the now Arnulfista-controlled Supreme Court ruled that public officials' declarations of wealth are confidential and may not be obtained under the Transparency Law.

Radio personalities Blas Julio and Alonzo Pinzón have been arrested for extortion after being filmed in a May 21 sting operation receiving money in marked bills from developer Abdul Waked, whom they had offered an end to unfavorable stories in exchange for money. According to sources linked to the investigation, Julio and Pinzón had originally demanded $300,000 from Waked, but then agreed to a $50,000 payment instead. Julio and Pinzón say they were set up, and most journalists' and human rights groups that have taken an interest in Panamanian freedom of the press issues are cautiously observing the case without taking a stand on it until more is known. If convicted Julio and Pinzón, who work for Radio Soberana Civilista, could receive five-year prison terms.

The secretary general of the Comptroller's office, Rafael Zúñiga, has filed calumnia e injuria (criminal defamation) charges against anti-corruption activist Enrique Montenegro. The latter accused the former of using his office to help the Caribbean British Chemical Company, which is one of the companies investing in the CEMIS multimodal transportation and service center in Colon. The calumnia element of Panama's criminal defamation law has historically meant an untrue allegation of criminal activity, and it's generally not a crime for a public official to help a company nor clear that Montenegro ever claimed that what he considered improper help was actually illegal.

In the past two weeks there have been three criminal defamation trials in Panama, one of which has drawn widespread international attention. On May 14 in separate Panama City courtrooms, law professor and radio show host Miguel Antonio Bernal went on trial for blaming police for a 1998 massacre among prisoners under their care at the Coiba Island penal colony, while La Cascara News publisher Ubaldo Davis went on trial for criminal defamation, "attacking the integrity of the state" and other crimes for a satirical collage depicting a romantic affair between President Moscoso and Supreme Court magistrate Winston Spadafora. A few days later former El Siglo publisher Jaime Padilla Belíz and former El Siglo editor Michelle Lescure went on trial for criminal defamation for a gossip column note that sports journalist Juan Carlos Tapia complains falsely implied that he's a homosexual. In all three cases the judges took the matters under advisement, with verdicts and possible sentences to be announced in the next few weeks.

Rodolfo Aguilera, the 37-year-old attorney and son of former Supreme Court magistrate Mirtza Franceschi de Aguilera who had been serving as vice-minister of government and justice, has been appointed as chief of the Judicial Technical Police (PTJ). He replaces Emilio De León, who was disabled by a stroke several months ago and has not recovered as quickly and fully as had been hoped. De León had himself replaced Alejandro Moncada, who was fired in 2000 for commenting about how Attorney General José Antonio Sossa blocked several foreign requests for money laundering investigations directed at prominent persons, and thus Aguilera's term will expire in December of this year. Aguilera's replacement at the Ministry of Government and Justice is attorney Alejandro Pérez.

Supermarket magnate and Canal Affairs Minister Ricardo Martinelli says that legislator Carlos Afú, at the center of allegations of widespread bribery in the Legislative Assembly, is welcome in the Cambio Democratico party. The PRD's disciplinary tribunal has voted to purge Afú from the party and strip him of his legislative seat, but the move is being appealed and meanwhile Afú remains in the legislature. Afú is being courted by Mireya Moscoso's supporters to run for president of the assembly in the session that begins in September, which might allow them to regain control of the legislature from the currently dominated coalition of the PRD and the former Christian Democrats.

Former National Port Authority director Hugo Torrijos, the nephew of former military strongman Omar Torrijos and son of legislator Susana Richa de Torrijos, has announced that he will challenge legislator Balbina Herrera for the presidency of the PRD at a convention to be held in August. Generally Hugo is backed by a faction that includes former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares and recently called on members of the legislature not to run for seats on the party's national executive committee, while Balbina holds the party presidency now and seeks continuity in the PRD leadership. The leaders of both factions say they support Martín Torrijos for president in 2004, but there are occasional rumors that the anti-legislators faction might back a primary challenge by Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro. Navarro, for his part, says that he's supporting Hugo Torrijos for the party presidency.

On May 15 the representatives of 37 religious and civic groups who issued the "Panama 2020" report in 1998 reassembled and set for themselves the task of promoting constitutional reform as a step to get past Panama's current political and economic crisis. A coalition within the umbrella group, the Ecumenical Committee of Panama, took the initiative to bring the alliance, which includes such notables as sociologist/playwright Raúl Leis and former La Prensa publisher I. Roberto Eisenmann as well as leaders from most of Panama's religious communities, back together for this task.

A recent Gallup-CID poll commissioned by El Panama America and TVN found four percent of those surveyed giving the Moscoso administration "excellent" job performance marks and another 15 percent saying that its work is "good." The poll found large majorities disenchanted with nepotism in the current government and estimated that banker Alberto Vallarino and PRD leader Martín Torrijos each have the support of about 38 percent of the electorate, while some 11 percent of voters say Panama's City's PRD mayor, Juan Carlos Navarro, would be their first choice for president in 2004. Those polled listed unemployment, crime and drug trafficking as the country's most serious problems. Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said that Panama is on the wrong track in its public policies.

With the legislative attempt to pass a restrictive new journalist licensing law apparently stalled for the rest of this Legislative Assembly session, the Ministry of Government and Justice now says that it will consider new laws affecting the press. To that end, Government and Justice Minister Aníbal Salas has appointed a committee composed of representatives of his ministry, the education and youth ministries and the National Ecumenical Council to formulate a proposal to change the press laws. Salas has not included the media in his consultations, but said that the commission may receive written recommendations from those whom he would regulate.

Professor Vicente Archibold alleges that some of the students at the University of Panama's law school have gained admission by paying bribes to university administrators, and the charge is being hotly but not categorically denied by university officials. The law school's dean, Franklin Miranda, accuses Archibold of a political ploy and says that he will bring criminal defamation charges. Without making a point-by-point denial of Archibold's charges, Miranda said that it's ridiculous to believe that anyone would pay thousands of dollars in bribes to get into the University of Panama's law school when they could get into one of the private law schools without any problem.

Groups representing Panama's teachers, public employees and certified translators and interepreters have criticized a proposal to make English Panama's official second language. The law, which contains no money to improve English-language instruction in Panama, would allow the courts and the Public Registry to accept English-language documents without official translations into Spanish, would require many public officials to learn English in order to handle English-language documents, and might be interpreted to allow the immigration of foreign English teachers. The proposal has also garnered opposition from constitutionalists who say that it would violate the national law establishing Spanish as Panama's first language and from nationalists in general. Supporting the proposal are some business interests and members of the Moscoso administration, who argue that the measure would help attract foreign investment.

On May 20 the PTJ seized 44 AK-47 assault rifles and two suspects, a Panamanian and a Costa Rican, as they entered Panama in two pickup trucks near Paso Canoas. There was a shootout and two other suspects managed to flee back into Costa Rica. The arms were apparently bound from the 1980s war zones of Central America for use in Colombia's civil conflict.

A court has awarded $10.2 million in funds seized from a Mexican drug cartel to the Public Ministry, which includes the nation's prosecutors and runs the jails and prisons. In 1990 the money was discovered deposited in Panamanian banks by the US Drug Enforcement agencies, in the names of six individuals who were operating as money laundering fronts for Mexican drug kingpin Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha. Of the alleged money launderers only one, Panamanian citizen Roy Alberto Antadillas, ever went to trial. However, his trial was delayed until 2001, at which time the court determined that the statute of limitations had passed and the charges were dismissed.

© 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: Constitutional changes? Panama mourns Monsignior Altafulla Dog trainer questioned