I will admit that what, when and where are also matters of importance, and maybe a thinking person like you might also like to know things like how and why.
Right now, however, the issue is WHO will lead us.
Who will speak for Panama for the next five years? This issue appears just before the deadline to publish polls --- can't legally do it within 10 days of the vote --- but we don't have any polls to offer you anyway. Look in the online archives of La Prensa and El Panama America on or about the 20th, 21st or 22nd of April for the last Dichter & Neira and CID/Gallup polls allowed before the election, and when those data become available understand that it's only a statistical snapshot taken two weeks or so before the voting.
All the conventional political wisdom is that it has long been front-runner Martín Torrijos's election to lose, that he may yet mange to lose it, and that if he does lose it will be to Guillermo Endara.
For a political junkie like me, it's almost painful not to see tracking polls up to the last minute. Plus, as a journalist I don't readily accept government limitations on subject matter that can be published, which is what the rules about polls involve. However, all the possibilities of last-minute poll manipulations make the Electoral Tribunal's ban on publishing polls for the last 10 days before the election seem reasonable enough to me. Similar considerations lead me to ignore a lot of the last-minute campaign mud that's being slung, because although people have a right to criticize public figures it's unfair to raise new allegations in an electoral time frame that effectively gives those impugned no effective opportunity to respond.
So, what to do? About some things, I haven't made up my mind. Partly that's because in the unreality of this year's election campaign, a lot of matters that in my estimation are of great importance to Panama's economic future and present security were not much discussed, or, if they were debated, only on the shallowest of terms. Some of these questions are raised one last time before the voting in this issue's Editorial.
In 1999 I voted for Torrijos, with misgivings. When Mireya Moscoso was elected, I opposed efforts by the outgoing administration to pack the Supreme Court against her, and to hive off important governmental functions to authorities set up as PRD fiefdoms. I don't regret my opposition to the "Fifth Bench" and all the corny lame duck maneuvers of the last election cycle. Democracy is an important value in itself.
Now, at the end of the failed Moscoso presidency, is a time of high hopes that things will improve. It's a time for all of us to extend our good will toward the one who is elected, whether we voted for him or not. These are trying times for this little country, and it's in all of our interests that the next Panamanian presidency is a successful one.
Although the election takes the lead in our News section feature about the growing confrontation between the president and the electoral prosecutor, this isn't really an "election special" edition. Our Opinion columns range from Panama City municipal affairs to the 911 hearings in the US, from a clash of civilizations to the latest barbarism on the University of Panama campus.
Alas, all is not sweetness and light in the world.
But this country does have a good supply of sweetness. Visit Aguadulce with Darrin DuFour on the Dining page, and see what I mean.
And over in the Science section Carl Hansen, head of Smithsonian Photographic Services, sheds some light on the history of digital photography. This issue's Science section is bigger than usual, touching the human-feline relationship, new possibilities at reviewing old science and concerns about spreading polio cases in Africa.
There's a lot of Sports and Travel this time, too. Both our Travel and Arts sections take us to Plaza Francia. We climb Ancon Hill and take a glance at what our Caribbean neighbors have been trying to do about sustainable tourism. We go to the cayuco races and boxing night. We take time to appreciate the orchids.
And do we get down to Business? In that section we have part two of "Anatomy of a scam," which will be a four-part series.
Given that April is one of those months with five Fridays, and that The Panama News is uploaded on the first and third "complete weekend" (that is, one with a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in which all days are within the month) of each month, I get a three-week break between this issue and the next. Look for our next issue on or about May 9.
It won't be much of a vacation for me --- I have a backlog of work to attend to and the end games and results of an election season to observe and report --- but I do hope to spend a little time on the garden.
Yes, it's that time of the year again. The first rains have fallen, the wind is no longer coming steady out of the north, the air feels sticky and the sky is blackening toward a cooling afternoon shower. Time to loosen up the garden, get the saril seeds in the ground and figure out what else I want to grow this year.
I know from many of the emails that I get that a number of our readers are people who are now in North America or Western Europe and are considering coming down to Panama to retire. Many such folks grew up down here or came here with the military and would know about these things, but those of you who have no tie to the isthmus and are thinking about moving here should visit not only in the dry season when tourism is at its peak, but also in the rainier months. It will give you a better perspective from which to make the choices of where and how you want to live.
And me? I'm working in front of a computer screen in an office without air conditioning, waiting on an April shower, basking in the probably ephemeral glory of the Detroit Tigers standing in first place in their division and trying not to be too late with this issue. I hope that you will find my efforts worthy.
Enjoy.
