Amazed to see a review of the Raulins restaurant at Perejil by Eric Jackson. This place features in one of my favorite anecdotes which my friends and family have been bored with many times. Once when eating there I ordered pork hampao, this was pretty good. After it I was lighting up a cigar while having a heated argument with my companion about taxation (always a contentious issue!) For some reason I was so preoccupied that I didn't blow out the match and as I gestured with my hand I managed to set my beard on fire --- it went up pretty good! My companion thought quickly and tossed a glass of beer over me which quenched the flames (but what a waste!) and said "I knew the hampao was supposed to be spicy but not that much!" I was able to laugh even though I felt a total bonehead!

Roy Grainger

PS: Raulins is certainly worth a visit if you are in the nighborhood.

I am in deep pain and sorrow to hear Mr. Gutman saying there is anti-Semitism among Hispanic Americans in the United States, this perception growing when Hispanics come from Latin America.

This is very sad.

What about Panama, for instance, where Jews prosper and flourish and grow in numbers, where among both those born here and those coming from Israel you don’t hear a single Panamanian claiming they should be barred entry to Panama?

Panama has accepted Jews since they started coming during World War II and years before (when they were persecuted by the Germans) and Panama took them gladly into our country and into our compassionate hearts.

And Jews will keep coming to Panama, prosper, flourish and grow in numbers, Mr. Gutman can bet on that!

And we Panamanians are glad about that!

God Bless those who wish Peace to Jerusalem, from a fellow Panamanian Catholic!

Patrick M. West

Just to say how useful and informative I (a British reader with family members in Panama) find The Panama News. I do intend to visit during the Centenary Year. I hope that someone can put a stop to AUC activities in Panama, but it seems unlikely under your present seemingly rather dreadful government.

Martin Hughes

From Pelton's history and his political ideology of glorifying "dangerous" places and conflicts while kissing the ass of imperial power (the US) it does not surprise me at all that he talks up the Colombian paramilitaries.

The fact that the paramilitaries have ties to the Colombian military and the corrupt
oligarchy, and that they are responsible for two-thirds of the civilian deaths seems
not to bother Pelton in the least. As your article indicates, Pelton "understands why they are fighting." One little fragment in the history of the 40 year civil war in Colombia that the corporate US media has convieniently forgotten as they construct a one-sided view of the conflict is that the leftwing was prohibited from taking part in electoral politics in that country from a program of assasination sponsored by the Colombian oligarchy. Thousands of leftwing polititians were murdered --- as were teachers, journalists, priests, and union workers.

These are some historical details that will most likely be ommited in Pelton's exciting narrative of his Colombia experience. Also missig, no doubt, will be any cursory examination of the US role in the country since the Kennedy administration.

Around the world, the danger to US power is "radical nationalism" --- the notion that people should be allowed to control their own natural resources for thier own benefit. The anti-communist hysteria functions nicley as a rationale for US imperial interests.

Are the people of the third world better off from US power? Only sycophants like Pelton, or effete middle class intellectuals could ever conjure up the notion of US imperial benificence given the glaring facts (that must, however, be hidden from the US population lest they stop supporting corrupt US policies in the world).

It is incredible that these rightwing thugs that support the general US policy in the region --- control of third world resources and the exportation of wealth to the industrialized world --- are allowed to enter Panama and murder indigenous people with nary a peep from the government.

Pelton is a vacuous person and a glorifier of violence and power. Do you think he will craft a critical article on the so-called "drug war" in Colombia --- or will he just spout the comfortable lies promulgated by the US corporate media and a vile, authoritarian Colombian government.

The cover-ups and support for death squads, the IMF policies of immiseration through an unpayable Third World debt, the corporate criminality on the part of elites and their minions in the degenerate Latin American middle classes all serve as an indication that the masses in Latin America need to take responsibility for their own lives. The sooner they take control of their government, their resources, and their future the better.

Pelton is a self-aggrandizing schmuck. His talking-up of his compadres from the Colombian paramilitaries is totally within his character.

Thanks for at least showing some integrity as a news organization by exposing the hypocrisy and the corruption continuing in Panama.

Steven Hunt

Well it obviously is worth being in Panama if you stay there. I read the front page of your newspaper, partly because I need to read up on Panama, but I found it very enjoyable. I think that you can use your wit and send common sense out so bluntly to the public is only because you are in Panama. Not that I didn't enjoy you telling off any disillusioned reader who thinks someone is the Third Adam. Don't stress about how stupid some of your readers are because believe me in the US we have stupid people who go and sue others, which creates lots of problems. I still thought that your paper was well worth reading. This all coming from a high schooler in California with only her school work to worry about. I hope that your paper continues and grows larger.

Happy Reader

I am writing to tell you how much I enjoy reading your publication. I am coming to Panama in May as part of the Peace Corps and your web site has been invaluable in providing me with background information about Panama. Given that Panama recieves almost no coverage in the international press, I think your paper fills a very important hole. I am going to send you a small donation, and maybe when I get to Panama I can contribute something written to your paper. I also wanted to ask you if you have any recommendations for books I could read to help me prepare for my two years in Panama. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Richard Hall

Editor´s note: As Panama is a small country, there are relatively few worthy books published in English about us. Personally, I recommend Michele Labrut’s "Getting to Know Panama," Scott Doggett’s Lonely Planet Guide and the CIA’s country survey as starting points; McCullough’s "The Path Between the Seas," Coniff’s "Black Labor on a White Canal," Jorden’s "Panama Odyssey," Dinges’s "Our Man in Panama" and Lindsay-Poland’s "Emperors in the Jungle" for basic historical background; and of course my book "9ºN" and the other books for sale through this website.

Thanks for the article about Colon. I was born there a little over half a century ago, and very seldom do I see anything said in a positive light about Colon. Loved the pictures taken of the city, and will continue reading your articles. Muchas gracias.

Carlos Davis

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