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At an October 1 press conference in an overcrowded party at Solidaridad party headquarters, former Vice-President Guillermo Ford, who until about a year ago served as the Moscoso administration’s ambassador to Washington, was presented as one of Guillermo Endara’s running mates for the 2004 elections. “This was not an easy decision,” Ford said, “but my dignity demanded this course.” He said that there is a need to “retake the country” after a reign of corruption.

Ford, a 1955 graduate of Balboa High School who rose to prominence in the business world as an insurance executive and a leader of the Panamanian Business Executives Association (APEDE), is a pugnacious campaigner whose personal style sharply contrasts with the laid-back Endara personality. In 1989 he ran in the third spot on Endara’s ticket, making fiery speeches against the Noriega regime and in the wake of the strongman’s attempt to annul the elections was show on international television with the blood of his assassinated bodyguard all over his shirt, being beaten by the dictator’s supporters.

Ford is a founding member of the MOLIRENA party and said that he’s not quitting that organization. He denied that he’s calling on fellow party members to quit, but said that he’s urging his friends to jump on the Endara bandwagon. A number of prominent MOLIRENA members, most notably former San Miguelito legislator and Moscoso administration diplomat Gisela Chung, have done that.

The serious impact that the nomination likely made on the presidential race was shown by the immediate and virulent attacks on Ford, both by President Moscoso’s followers and by the PRD-Partido Popular opposition. Renato Pereira, a former Noriega regime minister and host of RPC-TV’s “Debate Abierto” show, questioned Ford’s integrity, maintaining that when a politician disagrees with his party so much that he’d run for an opposing slate, he has an ethical duty to resign. Current MOLIRENA party boss Jesús “Maco” Rosas said that anybody who joined another slate is automatically purged from the party. A number of Mireyistas alleged that Ford only joined Endara’s ticket when it became clear that Rosas rather than he would be the running mate on José Miguel Alemán’s slate, which is running in a distant third place with single digit public support according to opinion polls.

Ford, however, denied that personal ambitions had anything to do with his decision. He also called upon other citizens to put aside their private interests for the good of a country in crisis. “Panamanians, play for Panama!” he urged.

Also in this section:
Panama News Briefs
Scenes from the Social Security protests
Billy Ford bolsters the Endara ticket
Ambassador Watt's bombshell
On the campaign trail

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