Denial ain't just a river in Egypt

What you see above is the cloud forest at Jardin de la Bruja, in the Volcan Baru National Park. We must compliment Sharon Akers for the beauty of her photgraphic art. However, if you visit Panama this time next year, it may not be like this anymore. This, you see, is the scene of a planned chainsaw massacre, the overwhelmingly hated Cerro Punta - Boquete road project, which we now know is specifically designed to serve property owned by Mireya Moscoso and her relatives. But she denies it.

“Denial is more than just a river in Egypt,” Mark Twain once remarked. And when does denial most frequently overflow its banks and flood the social landscape? In the wake of disasters, of course.

Panama has had a spate of disasters lately. Here, denial doesn’t usually take the blasphemous form that it does in countries that use the Anglo-American Common Law. One seldom hears the plea “Act of God” advanced by the clearly negligent --- in Panama they talk about unfortunate accidents and unforeseen circumstances and there is rarely any consequence for damages, injuries or deaths caused by the imprudence of the rich and powerful.

Meanwhile, halfway across the world, the US war in Iraq has turned into a major disaster, and not only in Iraq. By asserting the doctrine of “preventive war,” thumbing his nose at the United Nations and many of America’s closest allies and embarking on a new military adventure with Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar et al on the loose, George W. Bush not only bogged America down in a growing guerrilla conflict in Iraq. He gave Al Qaeda the breathing space and emotional issues that allowed them to recruit new members, and that has resulted in the deaths not only of American soldiers in Iraq, but also of Jews worshipping at synagogues in Turkey, Arabs in their homes in Mecca and almost surely the victims of ghastly atrocities to come. The US homeland is in harm’s way --- especially now that George W. Bush has breathed new life into Osama bin Laden’s movement --- but Panama is also one of the many other places around the world that needs to be on a heightened state of alert.

(Yes, I know --- about half of all Americans would vigorously deny my characterization of what Bush has done in Iraq. But the other half wouldn’t, and I’m in the mainstream of Panamanian and world opinion on this subject.)

Meanwhile, Mireya has broken with Panamanian tradition and invoked God in her defense against allegations that an illegal landfill she approved and her administration’s failure to maintain one of the city’s most important drains contributed to flooding along the Matasnillo River. She may or may not have a point, but the economic disaster that arose once the flood waters lowered was clearly not an Act of God --- unless, of course, one confers an aspect of divinity on the insurance companies that are raising rates for flood protection.

This issue’s Editorial is about several disasters that have stricken Panama in quick succession, and the corresponding Mireyista denials. In the Opinion section, we have two long items from the United States, one a speech by Secretary of State Colin Powell at his alma mater in which he pays homage to the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ralph Bunche and defends the policies of the administration he serves, the other a speech in which Al Gore criticizes the Bush administration for corroding freedom without increasing security. Also in the Opinion section, Raúl Leis examines government centralization as a Panamanian constitutional issue and I look at the latest scandal that has rocked the already shaky Panamanian political class. That section also includes colums by Norman Girvan on the Caribbean ties to the Atlantic side of the Central American isthmus and Ralph Nader on an increased American awareness of marine environmental issues.

For those of you who read Spanish, our Spanish-language “Opiniones” section includes a statement by leaders of an environmental protest march that was blocked by police, people with special interests and goons hired by Mireya Moscoso; another column on a related subject by a group of biology students; Brazilian and Caribbean takes on hemispheric economic integration; and an open letter from several leading journalists and human rights activists to Ibero-American heads of state on the subject of Cuban repression against those who try to exercise freedom of the press.

All of those articles, in one way or another, touch upon disastrous situations, various related denials, the definition of issues and the joining of great debates.

In Panama and the United States there will be elections next year and the debates are underway. In this issue we cover a Panamanian presidential candidates’ debate on the Social Security Fund. However, those arguments may pale in significance before the looming question of a Free Trade Area of the Americas and Panama’s role in it.

On one level, there are those who presume that the FTAA is more or less a done deal and that the important debate is whether its headquarters will be in Miami or in Panama. But not so fast. Some of the dailies report that the Americans pretty much have a form contract for Panama to sign at talks for a bilateral US-Panamanian free trade deal to begin early next year. If that’s the case, and if Mireya signs on the dotted line as requested, it will be the cause of great social unrest and may well provide the defining issue in the overall debate about whether Martín Torrijos or Guillermo Endara should be our next president. (Yes, José Miguel Alemán and Ricardo Martinelli will also have things to say about the subject, but they will not be particularly relevant to the choice that Panamanians will make next May.)

This issue isn’t entirely about denial, disaster and conflict, however. It takes time to appreciate an orchid, and a play, and the upcoming cayuco racing season. We publish a couple of reprises of the holiday parades, from Bocas and the capital respectively. We consider bioprospecting, and the All Star Survivor competition that’s bound to boost Panama as a tourist destination yet again.

Enjoy.

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Disasters, denials, definitions and debates