This is a suggestion based on what you wrote regarding purchasing property in Panama and the possible pitfalls in doing so: Solicit local (reputable) panamanian law firms to advertise their services in The Panaman News. It seems to me the number of hits warrants it.

Fred Braithwaite
Tampa, Florida

On Mr. Antadillas's lawsuit against, you, Eric Jackson: Don´t worry too much. A key aspect of Panamanian criminal law (as opposed to United States criminal law) is that the Government is under no obligation to do a full, lengthy and costly prosecution of alleged crimes. This saves money to both the defendant and the plaintiff as well as court costs to a deficit ridden judiciary.

Yet, Mr. Jackson, give people a right to complaint to the PTJ. It helps them take the steam off their chests. I call it freedom of expression, salvage of personal honor, or the like.

Keep up the good work!

Name withheld

I was looking for a real estate section for rural property for sale in Panama, and I stumbled upon your comment about "losing" your bank account with Citibank.

I suspect you'll be "well-rid" of them because:

They (Citibank) had a commercial offer I got in "hotmail e-mail."

It offered me the opportunity to send money cheaply, to anywhere in the world, so I thought I'd take advantage of the offer, and send a small amount to my very aged beloved aunt in Israel.

The web page had a "drop down" arrow, with a huge variety of places many of which I never even heard of... but... I couldn't seem to find Israel on the list. I thought this can't be so. After all, I had recently heard that Israel's GDP was humungous compared to Syria, Lebanon, etc., so I checked the list again.

It wasn't there. Then I thought, well, maybe they use the old name Palestine, but alas it wasn't there either. While I did the searching, I began to notice with more amazement, the huge list of countries, many whose names I never heard of, and some who were as small as a postage stamp island. I began to slowly realize that the "omission" was NOT a mistake. I asked my husband what he thought about it, and he said: "I'm not surprised, as I'd heard that Saudi Arabia had a big proportion of ownership in Citibank.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Carolyn Hunter

Great issue. Thank you especially for the Osama bin Laden letter. If we don't want to wake up one day to the Sharia here in the US, the US government had better start funding its schools and letting the Army hold bake sales to open new bases. Especially Machiavellian about our foreign policy in the oil-rich Near East is the use of Jews, mostly from Europe and the US, to establish a foothold there. The backlash against Jews is entirely predictable. As terrible as the targeting of civilians is, I feel as a US citizen that I am responsible for my country's policies. And my leaders' crocodile tears at the shedding of blood that really is innocent --- of everything except profiting by these policies --- makes me think of the battle between David and Goliath. In hindsight I am sure Goliath, armed with cutting-edge weapon technology, would have said when David took aim with his slingshot, "Unh unh, no stones."

Karen Saum
Bucksport, ME

Osama bin Laden said all we need to know at the World Trade Center. You should not be spreading his propaganda.

L. Pérez

I have been preaching to my Congressman, John Mica, several years now that the U.S. had better get their collective fingers out of their collective assholes and take notice of this new enemy. This one doesn't have a nationality, no country, no uniforms --- this one forces us to fight not a physical enemy but a method. That method is terrorism, and the only way to fight a method is to remove the cause for them to use this method. I have written him continuously and also to the President (but he of course never gets these messages) that the Islamic world has stipulated over and over again that the main reason for these attacks is our continued support of Israel over all others and the fact that our troops are in their lands and don't belong there. I personally agree with both counts. We were primarily responsible for the construction of Israel and it's being gouged out of Islamic land in the 40s. We have continued to support them unendingly and unquestionably even though they have been guilty of many atrocities and what would be considered war crimes anywhere else. We ARE two-faced and we have double standards for us and the rest of the world.

His [Osama bin Laden's] diatribe on our corruption is not far off, but then every country, even the Islamics, has that.

Interesting he pointed out that sleeze Clinton. I cannot argue with many of
his stands here.

My question is, how can I get a copy of this downloaded into my computer so I can email it to my Congressmen? I want them to be aware of this document. It only serves to back up what I've been telling them for several years. I thought 9/11 would have brought that home, but it just got worse. Can our politicians be that stupid? Or is it that Jewish money talks big words?

Many thanks and keep up the very good reporting.

That whole region needs more newspapers like yours.

"Let them know the truth, and the truth will set them free"

Sincerely,
Lacy Jones
Deltona, FL

(Editor's note: Generally one can click and drag to highlight any letter or article, hit "copy," create a new document or email text, and click onto it and hit "paste." Whether your representative reads it is, and which conclusions may be drawn, are different matters.)

With the name of Allah --- Merciful, Beneficent!

Praise be to Allah --- the Lord of the worlds!

Rescue be to those who fear Allah.

Peace and blessing of Allah be upon those --- who believe, and do righteous deeds, and command with Truth, and with Patience .

Damnation of Allah be to His enemies and to the enemies of believers.

From today until the day of Judgment.

But then?!

O, sons of Adam! We think it is our duty to explain you what do mean the words --- ALLAH, Quran, Islam. It is neither violence, nor terror, as some religious fanaticsrepresent it to the people. With a name "HizbALLAH" etc., they are engaged in terrorism and violence --- does our Creator teach us to do it? In some countries people are afraid of the word "ALLAH," because named itself "warriors of ALLAH" they blow up, spill blood saying the name of ALLAH.

Because of this peaceful people are hating these words.

"HizbALLAH" means "the troop of ALLAH," but does ALLAH order terror and violence? --- NO!!! ALLAH orders peace and boon deals.

Quran 3rd surah 104th sign: "Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: they are the ones to attain felicity."

ALLAH teaches this in Arabic Quran, which ALLAH sent to Muhammad (peace upon him) and how taught in the Aramaic Quran - i.e. in Bibles, which ALLAH has sent to Isa the son of Maryam (peace upon him) and how taught in Levitic Quran --- i.e. in the Torah, which ALLAH has sent to Musa (peace upon Him). Our Lord teaches us this, only this.

Quran 7th surah 28th sign: "When they commit any-body indecency, they say: "We found our fathers doing so,"and "ALLAH commanded us thus." Say: "Indeed, ALLAH never commands what is indecent: do you say of ALLAH what you know not?'"

Quran 7th surah 29th sign: "Say: "My Lord has commanded justice; and that you set your whole selves at every time and place of prayer, and call upon Him, making your devotion sincere: such as He created you in the beginning, so shall you return.'"

Quran 7th surah 30th sign: "Some He has guided: others have deserved the loss of their way; in that they took the Satans ones, in preference to ALLAH, for their friends and protectors, and think that they receive guidance."

We take Quran as the base because Allah --- our Lord has sent this Book not only for arabs, but for all mankind. We know that Torah, Bible and Quran --- all of them mean in translation "readable,"but in the first two books the people have made changes so ALLAH orders us to judge by "Quran"--- guarded by Him, i.e. "readable" Arabian, in which there is no doubt. Quran 15th surah 9th sign: "We have, without doubt, sent down the Reminding Message; and We assuredly guard it."

Quran 13th surah 37th sign: "Thus have We revealed it to be a judgment of authority in Arabic. If you follow their desires after the knowledge which has reached you, then you will not find neither protector nor defender from ALLAH."Quran 2nd surah 2nd sign: "This is the Book; in it is guidance sure, without doubt, to those who fear ALLAH."

We want to inform you that messengers of ALLAH and their community (Ibrahimi) which ALLAH has raised from Bakka, i.e. from Baku at the end of XX century, and at the beginning of XXI century for all manking and they name themselves not Judaic, not as the Christians, not Muslimans, but surrendering themselves to ALLAH --- the Lord of the worlds, therefore religious fanatics do not accept them and they are hostilely adjusted against them, and despite of these hostile actions, they forgive them, because so orders ALLAH --- our God.

Quran 25th 63rd sign: "And the servants of Gracious are those who walk on the earth in lowly, and when the ignorant address them, they say, "Peace!'"

And else, the word "ALLAH" --- not the Arabian word, ALLAH has created Arabs and Arabian language as well as all peoples and languages

Think: how did first Adam call the Creator, how did Nuh call (peace upon him), Ibrahim (peace upon him), Ismail (peace upon him), Ishag (peace upon him), Yagub (peace upon him), Musa (peace upon him), Isa the son of Maryam (peace upon him), Muhammad (peace upon him), Aliasgar (peace upon him) and all messengers of ALLAH between them and after them. By the way, Muhammad (peace upon him) in his origin is not Arab, but Turk, because his ancestor Ibrahim (peace upon him) was Turk.

All religious figures and scientists speak and memorise, that someone will come, who will rescue the world. Let's think: what he will say if he comes? Have we acted correctly when we have, divided the religion? Do we correctly act, feuding between ourselves? Look, o sons of Adam. Into what have we transformed our planet, which was given us by the God ours --- ALLAH. Is it the correct way? Even "religious people, which consider the God by a Single Deity," will indeed add the colleagues to God (the Muslimans, the Christians, the Jews). Not speaking about the people out of religion. The youth perishes, broadly have spread drug addiction, alcoholism, prostitution, homosexuality, etc. And each time, when ALLAH sends his own messengers to direct us on true way, and what are we doing in the answer?

Quran 2nd surah 87th sign: "We gave Musa the Book and sent after him with messengers; We gave Isa the son of Maryam clear signs and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a messenger with what you yourselves desire not, you don't accept it because of your pride? Some Some you call liers, and others you slay!"

Sons of Adam! We do not want to tell, that we are far from a sin. All of us are guilty before our God. But God is Merciful, Forgiving.

Quran 16th surah 61st sign: "If ALLAH were to punish men for their wrongdoing, He would not leave, a single living creature: but He gives them respite for a stated Term: when their Term expires, they would not be able to delay for a single hour, just as they would not be able to hasten it."

But also we are not to forget that ALLAH is strong in punishment, because He is angry of what is going on and He prevents us of great punishment by His signs: earthquake, flood, eruption of volcanos, hurricanes, illnesses, etc.

Quran 46th surah 27th sign: "And of course, we destroyed towns round about you: We have spend the signs in various ways, perhaps, they may turn. Let's address to ALLAH --- to the God --- to the Merciful --- to the Creator! Whatever name we call upon Him the most beautiful names belong to ALLAH."

Quran 17th surah 110th sign: "Say: 'Call upon ALLAH, or call upon Merciful: by
whatever name you call upon Him: for to Him belong the most beautiful names. Neither speak the prayer aloud, nor speak it in a low tone, but seek a middle course between.'"

Quran 17th surah 111th sign: "Say: 'Praise be to ALLAH, who begets no son, and has no partner in dominion: He needs no protector, magnify Him for His greatness and glory!'"

Quran 7th surah 180th sign: "The most beautiful names belong to ALLAH: so call on Him by them; but leave such men as distort about His names: for what they do, they will soon be requited."

Let ask Him to help us to leave this position, and believe in Him and His messenger and we shall ask Him to forgive us for our sins because He is --- Forgiving, and after all He is --- Omnipotent.

Quran 2nd 186th sign: "When My servants ask you concerning Me, I am indeed close: I respond to the prayer of every suppliant when he call on Me: Let them also answer to Me, and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way."

At the end we want to inform you that Ibrahimi are existing they have their own calendar, they keep lent 4 times in the year (In the beginning of spring, summer, autumn and winter), they do not make "namaz," because these is not such a word in Quran, they make a prayer also make a prayer on the native language.

Because ALLAH levels the one who does not understand his speech with the one who is drunk.

Quran 4th surah 43rd sign: "O you who believe! Approach not prayers with a mind befogged, until you can understand all that you say, nor in a state of ceremonial impurity except when you are passing by, until after washing your whole body. If you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you comes from offices of nature , or you have been in contact with women, and you find no water, then take for yourselves clean sand, and rub therewith your faces and hands. For ALLAH is indeed Forgiving, Merciful!"

And --- Quran 14th surah 4th sign: "We sent not a messenger except in the language of his people, in order to make clear to them. So ALLAH leaves in astray those whom He pleases and guided whom He pleases: and He is Great, Wise."

They have their kibla --- the direction, during a prayer they turn to Bakka, aside of "Ancient house."

Quran 3rd surah 96th sign: "The 'First house' appointed for men is that at Bakka: blessing and of guidance for all the worlds."

They have two times in a year holiday of vicinity to ALLAH --- Lord of worlds.

And we wants to present you a prayer , which make Ibrahimi.

And your Lord said: "Invoke Me, I will respond to your. Verily! Those who scorn My worship they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!"(40-60)

And I created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me. (51-56)

There are five necessary prayers in a day: before the sunrise, noon, before the sunset, after the sunset and night.

All of prayers consist of two parts. Prayer must be done in the mother tongue of every nation in the middle voice. It is necessary to wash before prayer.

O you who believe! When you intend to offer prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, rub your heads, and your feet up to ankles. If you are in a state of Janaba (i.e. had a sexual discharge), purify yourself. But if you are ill or on a journey or any of you comes from answering the call of nature, or you have been in contact with women and you find no water, then perform Tayammum with clean earth and rub therewith your faces and hands. Allah does not want to place you in difficulty, but He wants to purify you, and to complete His Favour on you that you may be thankful. (5-6)

When you begin the prayer it is necessary to say: "I am doing before the sunrise (noon, before the sunset, after the sunset, night) prayer to be close to Allah."

Afterwards say: "Allah is Great" and begin the first part of the prayer.

"With the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, The Owner of the Day of Recompense, You Alone we worship, and You Alone we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray." "Amin"

With the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful! Say: "He is Allah, the One. "Allah is not in need. He is not a parent and He was not born; And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him."

Say: "Allah is Great!," then bow and say: "Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the Promise of our Lord must be fulfilled."

Then stand up and say: "Allah hears those who praise Him." Say afterward: "Allah is Great" and kneel down and say: "Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the Promise of our Lord must be fulfilled."

Stand up and say: "Allah is Great!" and begin second part of the prayer.

"With the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds The Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.The Owner of the Day of Recompense You Alone we worship, and You Alone we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace, not of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray." "Amin"

With the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful! Say: "He is Allah, the One. "Allah is not in need. He is not a parent and He was not born; And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him." Say: "Allah is Great!," then bow and say: "Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the Promise of our Lord must be fulfilled."

Then stand up and say: "Allah hears those who praise Him." Say afterward: "Allah is Great" and kneel down and say: "Glory be to our Lord! Truly, the Promise of our Lord must be fulfilled." Then say "Allah is Great."

At the end, sitting on the knees, say: "All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the
Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is not any deity but Allah, He is Allah, (the) One. And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him. I testify that all messengers of Allah are truth. Peace to those who follow the way of Allah! Peace of Allah to all slaves He chooses." Turning your head to the right say: "Peace and Grace of Allah to you." Also turn your head to the left and say: "Peace and Grace of Allah to you."

Prayer is finished with these words.

All these facts have been taken from Holy QUran: 1st surah 1-7th ayats, 2nd surah 28, 285th ayats, 4th surah 43, 101, 102, 103th ayats, 5th surah 6th ayat, 14th surah 4th ayat, 17th surah 108, 110, 111th ayats, 19th surah 93th ayat, 20th surah 47, 130th ayats, 24th surah 45th ayat, 27th surah 59th ayat, 50th surah 17th ayat, 112th surah 1-4th ayats.

Part of invocations from Holy Quran:

(2-286) Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us; our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant us Forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maula and give us victory over the disbelieving people.

(3-8) Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from You. Truly, You are the Bestower.

(3-9) Our Lord! Verily, it is You Who will gather mankind together on the Day about which there is no doubt. Verily, Allah never breaks His Promise."

(3-16) Our Lord! We have indeed believed, so forgive us our sins and save us from the punishment of the Fire.

(3-26) O Allah! Possessor of the kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and You endue with honour whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is the good. Verily, You are Able to do all things.

(3-27) You make the night to enter into the day, and You make the day to enter into the night, You bring the living out of the dead, and You bring the dead out of the living. And You give wealth and sustenance to whom You will, without limit.

(3-147) Our Lord! Forgive us our sins and our transgressions, establish our feet firmly, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.

(40-7) Those who bear the Throne and those around it glorify the praises of their Lord, and believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for those who believe: Our Lord! You comprehend all things in mercy and knowledge, so forgive those who repent and follow Your Way, and save them from the torment of the blazing Fire!

(40-8) Our Lord! And make them enter the 'Adn Paradise which you have promised them, and to the righteous among their fathers, their wives, and their offspring! Verily, You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.

(25-74) Our Lord! Bestow on us from our wives and our offspring who will be the comfort of our eyes, and make us leaders for the Muttaqun All the praises and thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the Words!

Baku 25.12.2002 (Gregorian calendar)
Bakka 06.10.03 (calendar by "Ibrahimi")

Asker
Russia

Peace to you and blessing of Mercy and Merciful Allah!
Praise to Allah --- Lord the worlds!

Seems that whenever tourists are raped or killed in Mexico or whenever the US government says anything bad about Mexico you see tourism ads to come visit Mexico, including Chiapas of all places. Maybe Panama could do the same thing. Buy some ad time on the travel channel or something.

My radio contacts give me to understand that the Panamanian government has recently become much more hostile and less inviting to visiting ham operators. It was bad enough when I last got an authorization to operate my equipment there but after getting to know who is who in the Ministerio de Gov y Policia the process was easy. No more.

I almost never see anything other than bad news from La Carta or your paper. This is good reporting, it reflects what's going on there.

The New York Review of Books published an article excoriating the US for its idiot response to Lula's election. Nicholas Kristof had a piece in the 12/17 edition of the NYT which went over much of the same stuff, albeit lots weaker. Kristof's reporting from the Philippines over the past year has been excellent. He spared no prisoners \there, as he did with his Latin American piece last Tuesday [December 17]. One of the things he said was that there's just too much corruption for any market liberalization to help anyone but the already rich and connected. A letter to the editor in Saturday's edition was critical: With Enron and WorldCom and Arthur Anderson and with oil execs running the government for oil reasons the US is in a weak position to preach anticorruption to the Latins.

I would add that the US has actively helped corruption everywhere in the hemisphere, from Salinas and Zedillio in Mexico to Chamorro and Aleman in Nicaragua to the tragedy of Costa Rica and the whole outrage of post-invasion Panama, just to name a few cases I've extensively seen first hand. With the Canadian dollar doing so badly it's cheap and safe and non-offensive to visit Canada instead of Latin America.

Oh yeah, I'll come back to Panama and other places, possibly next month even, but I never recommend Latin America as a tourist destination to anyone. Too many close calls, too many robberies. That time I was mugged in Casco Viejo with the collusion of the police was too much. A year or two later they set up the tourist police around there with their spandex shorts on bicycles, but all they do is to tell you how dangerous it is around there. Great PR, that.

Sorry I'm not in Panama for Christmas.

Say hi to the folks at the Balboa Union Church for me, will you. I miss the community a lot.

Des
Ann Arbor, MI

I'm very interested in the life and culture of your interesting country.

Therefore I should like very much to correspond with people from there.

May be could you publish my address in your newspaper?

I should be very glad.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Klaus Bechstein and I'm a German, 45 years old. I'm working as a sales manager. I'm able to write in English and German language.

Thanking you in advance, I remain,

Yours sincerely,

Klaus Bechstein
PSF 97
13062 Berlin, GERMANY
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
klaus_bechstein@gillette.com

When your body dies; will you die?

Robert W. Carlson
Elgin, IL

The International MultiModal Transport Association (), a worldwide trade and transport non-governmental association working in the interest of efficient trade and transport, has decided to respond positively to the global concern regarding the trustworthiness of companies involved in trade and transport.

From 1 January 2003 IMMTA members may apply for certification as an IMMTA Approved MTO (multimodal transport operator). IMMTA has taken this step in order to assist MTOs and NVOCCs that may not otherwise be considered reliable or trustworthy partners in today’s transport world.

Three levels of certification will be offered: Silver, Gold and Platinum, each corresponding to a certain number of predetermined benchmarks.

While IMMTA cannot certify the performance of its members, the intention is to allow governments, shippers, consignees, banks and insurers to know that an IMMTA Approved MTO complies with a certain level of minimum benchmarks.

Says the President of IMMTA, Dr. Hans Carl, "given the security concerns of most governments today, it is of vital importance that traders and Customs authorities at a glance can satisfy themselves of the professionalism of transport providers. While this may be relatively easy for major container shipping lines, it is much more difficult for non-vessel operating transport providers, the so-called NVOCCs or MTOs. IMMTA hopes by this initiative, to do its share to help efficient door-to-door transport."

IMMTA
Geneva, Switzerland
president@immta.org
http://www.immta.org