After a few days in which presidential relative and Minister of the Presidency Ivonne Young acted as Minister of Canal Affairs and a widely condemned announcement that the canal ministry would be reserved for the National Liberal Party, President Moscoso named Panama Maritime Authority director Jerry Salazar as the new Minister of Canal Affairs. The former minister, Ricardo Martinelli, quit to run as a minor party candidate in the 2004 presidential race. Salazar's appointment to replace Martinelli has been criticized by people in the shipping industry and anti-corruption activists due to the fraudulent sales of Panamanian sailors' certifications that happened on his watch. Upon arriving at his new post, Salazar demanded and got the resignations of all ministry employees, some 50 in all. The Panama Canal Authority's hiring and firing are not the minister's decision, but Ministry jobs generally go to political hacks. With the departure of Martinelli and Cambio Democratico from the governing coalition, most of that party's members with government jobs have lost them.

Replacing Jerry Salazar at the Panama Maritime Authority is yet another member of the extended Escalona clan that infests the national government, Bertilda García Escalona. García Escalona's first act upon taking office was the purge of several dozen maritime authority employees, including some who had worked for the organization and its predecessor National Port Authority for more than 15 years and leaders of the FENASEP public employees' union.

The Banking Superintendent's Office has released a report showing that the assets of Panama's banking sector fell from $38.053 billion to $34.022 billion from 2001 to 2002. The decline is attributed to both a weak national economy and hard times in South American countries. The health of South America's economy is an important factor for Panamanian banking because, apart from the now declining money laundering phenomenon, our international banking sector rests on two main pillars: shipping and the industrialized countries' trade with Latin America and the Caribbean. With South American customers buying less from distributors in the Colon Free Zone, there is less demand for the services of Panama City banks. Panama's national economy is a smaller factor in the banking sector than might be expected, as we are a small country and fewer than 10 percent of all Panamanians have personal bank accounts.

SITRACHILCO, the union that represents workers at the Puerto Armuelles Fruit Company (PAFCO), a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, says that it wants the government to pull the company's leases of the public lands on which Chiquita's banana plantations are located and deal with a German company that has expressed an interest in marketing the farms' produce. Chiquita rejects that as a violation of property rights it claims. Earlier, the government and the union refused to consider Chiquita's proposal to lay off all PAFCO workers, have the government pay severance benefits that the company would owe its employees and establish "independent" non-union "cooperatives" that would sell exclusively to Chiquita and receive subsidies from the government. Now Chiquita says that it's dealing with five potential buyers to run the PAFCO plantations as nominally independent enterprises.

President Moscoso's support for Plan Colombia and tolerance of Colombian death squad attacks on Panama notwithstanding, the Uribe administration in Bogota is dissatisfied with Panama and has slapped special taxes on transactions with this country. Colombia's stated reason for this is Panamanian banking secrecy, which aids a number of Colombian tax evaders. The Moscoso administration has protested the move and may invoke recent reciprocity legislation that allows Panama to retaliate in kind for financial measures that discriminate against this country.

Hunger and the belief that there is free land available elsewhere led a group of 89 landless Ngobe residents of the Rio Sereno and Monte Lirio area near the Costa Rican border to make their way on bus and foot over mountains and through jungles to the Donoso district of Colon province. Most of those who made the arduous trek were children. When they got to Donoso they tried to chop farms out of the bush, but found that the land they invaded was infertile. The trekkers, most of whom have been sent back to Chiriqui, had lost their livelihood as coffee pickers due to low world coffee prices.

Panama City Treasurer Ventura Vega says that his office and other municipal treasuries will be at work on the roads during Carnival to look for cars with expired license plates. Although car owners buy their plates from the Transit and Terrestrial Transportation Authority, a part of the national government, the revenue goes to municipal coffers. Panama City estimates that some 38,000 cars owned by individuals or businesses in the capital are being driven around without current license plates, and city treasury officials have several times in the past conducted unannounced roadblocks and inspections in order to force payment.

Most of Panama had been declared free of screw worms by last year, with a US Department of Agriculture-supported project to release sterilized flies having nearly eliminated the pests that took the lives of many farm animals and pets. However, an error at the Mexican plant that breeds and sterilizes screw worm flies led to the release of fertile insects over parts of the Interior. Agricultural inspections have been stepped up to try to prevent the spread of screw worm infestations in the area.

The Interoceanic Regional Authority has told residents of former Canal Zone housing that they must exercise their options to buy their home before the end of this year or lose them. ARI has found few buyers for the properties, for which residents say it is asking unrealistically high prices.

Due to government budget cuts, Panama has decided not to host the Central American Student Games that were to have been held here in June and July. The games will probably be held in El Salvador instead.

The region's highest cell phone rates apparently aren't enough. The Ente Regulador has fined BellSouth and Cable & Wireless $50,000 apiece for charging more than the legal per-minute rate for calls made to cell phones from the community of Sabana Grande in Los Santos.

A circuit court judge has ruled that the Mexican ICA construction consortium, which built and runs the Corredor Sur, must pay $7.7 million for the usurpation of lands belonging to the Social Security Fund for the construction of the toll road. The company, arguing that the debt must be paid by the government and not itself, plans to appeal the decision.