On the campaign trail

• Martín Torrijos and José Miguel Alemán appeared before the Sindicato de Periodistas and promised to repeal the laws that restrict freedom of the press. Torrijos was more categorical in his promise to repeal restrictive laws and regulations, while Alemán promised to pardon the dozens of Panamanian journalists with pending trials or convictions arising from their work. Viewed in light of their parties’ past promises and records on the subject, there is room for skepticism. Guillermo Endara turned down an invitation to address the union, which has no contracts by which it is the collective bargaining agent for journalists, and Ricardo Martinelli was out of the country at the time.

• A Dichter & Neira poll published in La Prensa on August 18 had Martín Torrijos still way ahead in the presidential race with the support of 44.9 percent of those surveyed, against 24.8 for Guillermo Endara, 8.8 for José Miguel Alemán and 2.1 for Ricardo Martinelli, with 15.6 percent undecided and the rest not responding. Though still early in the race, the poll has to be taken as especially bad news by Alemán for two reasons: first, in Latin American polls there is a tendency for those who oppose the party in power not to admit this, out of fear of reprisals; second, the survey represents the Arnulfista candidate’s decline into single-digit support after he briefly scored double digits in the wake of his party’s nominating convention.

• That same poll showed Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro pulling away from legislator Sergio Gálvez (who wants to be the Arnulfista nominee), 45.6 to 30.7 percent.

• A more serious threat to Navarro’s aspirations for another term as mayor may be looming on the horizon, with reports that former Mayor Mayín Correa is testing the waters for a possible Solidaridad nomination for mayor. In 1998 polls showed Correa as the most popular elected official in the country, but in May of 1999 she came in third in a close three-way race with Navarro and Miguel Antonio Bernal. She still maintains a public profile through her radio show, and recently by her public appearance among the supporters of several Cuban-American activists accused of plotting to kill Fidel Castro during the Cuban dictator’s November 2000 appearance at the University of Panama.

• José Miguel Alemán said that under no circumstances will he revive the legislators’ circuit funds, which are mentioned in the constitution but can’t exist if they’re not in the budget that the president sends to the assembly.

• Martín Torrijos said that if he’s elected he’ll eliminate bribery and bid-rigging from the national political scene, and accused the Moscoso administration of ruining the country through such practices.

• The PRD decided to hold a special September 28 legislative primary in Panama Oeste’s Circuit 8-3 (Chame and San Carlos) and the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca. Primaries in those circuits were not held on August 10. Circuit 8-3 was one of the areas left open by the PRD for negotiations with the Partido Popular and other possible allies aimed at the selection of a unity candidate. In other such areas the party will be supporting Partido Popular candidates, but no agreement was reached in the Chame-San Carlos area so there will be a primary. At the moment it looks like Kike Florez is the front-runner for the PRD nomination, after which it looks like there will be a hotly contested general election race among him, the incumbent Arturo Araúz (who belongs to the Partido Liberal Nacional) and Arnulfista Junior Herrera.

• The Partido Liberal, which lost its ballot status due to a poor showing in 1999 and is trying to gather the signatures needed to become an official party again, is leaning toward supporting Martín Torrijos. The group’s president, Francisco Denis Durán, said this to La Prensa. In 1999 the Partido Liberal supported Mireya Moscoso, while the Partido Liberal Nacional supported Torrijos. After the election those legislators elected on the Liberal ticket joined the Arnulfista Party. Meanwhile, the National Liberals switched sides and backed Moscoso in the legislature, which has led a number of its members to resign and join the Liberals.

• El Siglo publisher and former National Police Chief Ebrahim Asvat said he’ll challenge legislator Rubén Arosemena for the Partido Popular’s spot on the national ticket to be headed by the PRD’s Martín Torrijos. The PRD’s junior partners will get one of the two vice-presidential nominations. It is expected that Torrijos will turn to the business sector for the third member of his slate.

• Guillermo Endara said that if he’s elected president he will appoint current Attorney General José Antonio Sossa’s suplente, Mercedes Araúz de Grimaldo, to succeed her boss. Araúz de Grimaldo has distanced herself from Sossa over high profile issues like the legislative bribery cases. The announcement was criticized by Martín Torrijos, who said that when a presidential candidate makes appointments before the election with a view toward gaining votes, that leads to a cabinet crisis early in the administration if that candidate wins. Araúz de Grimaldo indicated that she would accept such an appointment.

• Ricardo Martinelli called for special exemptions from many of the labor laws for businesses with 10 or fewer employees, both to promote employment and as a means to legalize many of the enterprises that exist within the informal economy.

• José Miguel Alemán blamed Martín Torrijos for the Moscoso administration’s slow progress on many development projects, alleging that the PRD legislative caucus has blocked funds for road, irrigation and drinking water works.

• PRD, Arnulfista and Partido Popular pundits accused Guillermo Endara of circumventing a pact sponsored by the Catholic Church’s Justice and Peace Commission and signed by all the presidential candidates. The agreement calls on the candidates to avoid negative campaigning, and on the RPC’s Debate Abierto morning talk show Arnulfista legislator José Isabel Blandón, PRD attorney and journalist Renato Pereira and Partido Popular attorney and journalist Milton Henríquez all ganged up on Endara by claiming that press conferences held by anti-corruption activist Enrique Montenegro, a friend of Endara’s, are in effect mudslinging by the Solidaridad candidate.

Also in this section:
Panama News Briefs
Movement for a new constitution gains strength
Anti-Castro activists to face trial
On the campaign trail