Editorial: Panama should quit PARLACEN

Think about it --- what has the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) done for you?

Allegedly, this multinational governmental body has promoted the interconnection of Panama’s and Central America’s power grids. Fine. Have you seen any benefit from that in your monthly electric bill?

Has PARLACEN done anything to reduce unemployment in Panama or any of the other member countries? Has it improved education, health care or other public services? Has it filled any potholes in our roads? Has it slowed or halted the decline in our regional fisheries? Of course it has done none of these things.

You may, however, argue that PARLACEN shouldn’t be expected to do these things, because it exists to deal with matters that can only be addressed regionally.

For example, no member country alone has the resources to defend its coasts against all the speedboats and low-flying planes smuggling drugs, guns, illegal migrants and other contraband. A regional coast guard would be an obvious task for PARLACEN.

But maybe not. Time and again, we have seen PARLACEN deputies caught using their parliamentary immunity to aid their drug courier activities. We have even seen drug trafficking rings using the Central American Parliament itself as their headquarters.

Let us understand PARLACEN’s origins. It was created in the late 80s as part of the deal ending Central America’s vicious civil wars of that decade. By providing that ex-presidents would get seats in the parliament, and that they and other deputies would be immune from arrest and prosecution, PARLACEN was the institutional response to the demand for impunity by political leaders who were soaked in the blood of the tens of thousands of people of whose massacres they were the intellectual authors.

That was then, and this is now. Now Panama has a PARLACEN deputy who should be in jail for creating an illegal Cambio Democratico party dues payroll deduction system at the IDAAN public water and sewer utility. Now ex-president Toro Pérez Balladares uses his PARLACEN immunity to avoid investigation and prosecution for a flagrant kickback scheme in a buoy and lighthouse maintenance contract. Now Mireya Moscoso looks forward to PARLACEN as a shield to avoid the consequences that she ought to suffer for running one of Panama’s most corrupt regimes ever.

Why would Panama seek political and economic integration with the Central American countries anyway? So that we can sell each other hamburgers, coffee and bananas? There is no compelling economic reason for this association.

Historically, Panama’s political, cultural and economic ties have been more South American than Central American. It has been that way since even before the Spanish Conquest. We’re a Bolivarian country, not a Central American banana republic.

But of course, the Central American banana republic model is attractive to the likes of Mireya Moscoso. A tiny white elite living in luxury on the backs of a hard-working and grossly underpaid dark-skinned majority is the sort of thing that appeals to her.

Panama should withdraw from the Central American Parliament. It’s an expense that we don’t need, an obstacle to justice and an unhealthy cultural influence. Costa Rica has reached a sound conclusion about PARLACEN’s value and pulled out, and Panama should join the exodus.

editorial

Who needs PARLACEN?

Bear in mind...