letters

I took notice there is no mention on your calender about Dia Etnica May 30... please inform as to why such a blaring omission.

Name withheld

Editor's note: The omission of Panama's Day of the Black Ethnicity was indeed an error, which has been corrected in this issue's calendar.

Good Morning. Time to get up and get the news out --- It's only the 9th, one day after your website should be current.

Name withheld
USA

Editor's note: I hear you and I know that I should be more punctual, but I also don't want to make promises that I can't keep.

It is disappointing that you would even spend time to write such a slanderous article about my uncle Jorge Fonseca. I guess that is why you are the editor of the Panama News and not of a newspaper that is well regarded and well read. Remember in journalism it is always better not to print a story if you are unsure of the facts, otherwise your journalistic contribution is nothing more than tabloid gossip.

Maybe you can apply for a job at the National Enquirer?

Alan Hupp

Editor's note: The Panamanian media operate in a situation in which powerful interests have blocked public access to most public records. Thus, when Jorge Fonseca told people in Santa Clara that he, through his company, owned the residue of the original development company, including the roads, public access to the beach and a park with a chapel that had existed for decades, there was no effective way to verify his statements. It now appears that despite his claims Mr. Fonseca may have been only the legal representative and a minority stakeholder in that enterprise --- but the public record is silent about the company's ownership, due to corporate secrecy laws.

Similarly, the bit about the circumstances of his death was based upon public declarations of a person close to Mr. Fonseca who claimed to have been present when he died, but could not be verified because medical examiner's' reports are not a matter of public record here --- if there was an autopsy or a toxicologist's finding about the presence or absence of drugs in the remains. This doubt was acknowledged in the note.

The fencing off of the park with the chapel, however, was there for everybody to see and was reported at the time in The Panama News and La Prensa. The alteration of official maps to create the impression that the park never existed is also evident by comparing the old ones in long-time residents' possession with the ones now on file.

There are many ethical conflicts to be weighed when reporting in a context like ours, and many times it is just not possible to get the story. However, my policy is to not allow notorious things of interest to Panama's English-speaking community to go unreported because certain details can't be checked against the public record due to an information control system mainly designed to promote corruption.

I find it interesting that the world has grabbed onto the actions of 7 to 10 people's action. So I thought I might explain the difference between the US actions and those of former governments of let's say Iraq under Saddam and oh let's say Panama under various military dictators. We are going to punish these people and they are going to jail. Our government has condemned these actions. Unlike many nations we the civilians control of our military (something Panama was not very good at) and hold the military responsible for their actions. As far as our country being divided on the presidential candidates your new president only got less then half the votes --- where is the other half? I would say that your country was just as divided if not more.

Oh and keep up the good work this is a great news service.

Ron Snyder
Fairbanks, Alaska USA

Your "publication" is so full of outright lies and misrepresentations of fact and truth you may as well rename it "Pravda Panama". I mean it extends from the "sacking of General Tommy Franks" to the characterization of "American torturer's" (meant to conjure mental images of electrodes being used, fingernails being pulled out, beheadings, burnings, etc.). Give me a break.

Keep in mind that after the fall of Germany the Nazi resistance continued for two years with bombings and assassinations of Allied personnel and the new government officials. The US policy then was to execute by firing squad captured resistors (which they did many times), the British policy was to behead them by guillotine, and French did much worse. It had the desired effect. Maybe if this policy is re-implemented would calm things down in Iraq more quickly. At least we know the local resistance can relate to this more brutal technique since they have employed it for hundreds of years as part of their legal system (cutting off body parts, etc.).

Maybe this is the "laws of land warfare and the customary restraints" to which you refer. Where exactly are these "laws of land warfare and the customary restraints" documented? Obviously the war in Germany was land warfare and the aforementioned actions can be called customary. But then the lawyers and newspapers couldn't profit by all the agitation and litigation.

Name withheld

Editor's note: The main sources for the laws of land warfare are found in treaties, especially the Geneva Conventions. The precedents of the Nuremberg Tribunals and later treaties like the Genocide Convention are also important legal sources. Many of these, in turn, were based upon prevailing international customs. Those who are interested in international law, who apparently do not include the author of the above letter, can find most of this material on the Internet.

Don't just lash out with revenge. That's waste of energy and a distraction. It won't fix anything. Instead, demand a foreign policy course correction. and pass on the report to everyone that you know.

• Demand an end to all physical and mental abuse of prisoners, including hooding, beating, electric shock, induced hypothermia,stripping detainees naked for several days, prolonged solitary confinement, and all other forms of mistreatment of prisoners and detainees.

• Demand that video monitoring of the activities of all detainees throughout their imprisonment, with cameras be installed at all US military prisons and detention centers. And that these tapes be held under the joint jurisdiction of the Judge Adjutant General and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

• Demand that the Geneva Conventions be clearly posted at all military prisons and detention centers, in English as well as the local language, in prominent locations that are accessible to both the detainees and the guards.

• Demand open, public and internationally administered trials for all war crimes, Iraqi, Afghani and American. No secret tribunals. No cover-ups. No passing the buck from one department to another or "off the table" to a private contractor. Everyone is accountable. No special passes. No exemptions.

• Demand that President Bush rescind all statements that enemy combatants and detainees limiting the applicability of the Geneva Conventions, and declare that they apply to all prisoners held by the United States and governing the conduct of combat that the United States engages.

• Demand that President Bush's declaration that the Geneva Conventions apply to all prisoners taken by US military forces and their representatives, be made in clear and straight-forward language so that all military personnel can understand, including a declaration that the US is subscriber to Geneva Conventions, and these regulations will be enforced throughout all territories under the control of the United States.

• Demand that the Bush Administration retract its opposition of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and turn of the prosecution of war crimes, Iraqi, Afghani and American, to this international body.

• Demand that the President of the United States, whoever it is, read the reports of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and take immediate and appropriate corrective actions.

Unite America, Do what's RIGHT! "Unite for Peace."

Ray Lauzzana
San Francisco, USA

More innocent civilians have been killed in the wars on terrorism than have been killed by the terrorists. Where is the logic, reason or justice in that? Are the Israelis capable of making an honorable peace with the Palestinians? When will the Israelis, Americans, Chinese, Russians, Indians and Indonesians start being held accountable under International Law?

John Finch
Cairns, Queensland, Australia

I've followed your reporting on the SCLD scam with great interest. I noticed in your last segment you included a link to an EscapeArtist.com page that no longer exists. Of course, this doesn't do the reader much good. I don't know if you are aware of this but there is a searchable database available online created by The Internet Archive (a non-profit organization) that allows users permanent access to archived webpages. It's an amazing research tool. Future generations will be able to read The Panama News in its original form. Good luck!

Here is the website: http://www.archive.org/.

C. Losenno

I have read your articles regarding Tom McMurrain and his scam. I have seen him and his band of thugs in action at the Bocas airport, hustling a potential investor away from anyone before the guy could talk to any of the locals. The locals new what was going on.

I was in Bocas last week. Word is the he left Bocas owing the locals a lot of money. One bill is for over $60,000 for gas for his boats, plane, vehicles, etc. He is doing the same thing in Panama that he had to flee Costa Rica for, scams. In Costa Rica, he sold boats he had no titles for among other things.

He had a vice president that was arrested by international people for kiddie porn.

It is interesting to note that he promised big profits from the teak but also from the noni. Other than two companies in Colon area that grow their own noni for their juice businesses, the market has dried up on Noni. Most of the growers that I have talked to relate that they did well selling noni (the highest price was $.25-.30 lb.) until the buyer in Costa Rica started growing his own for the juice business. I have seen over 800 hectares that just rots on the tree as they have nowhere to sell it.

McMurrain claimed he was working on a contract in Europe to sell noni as the demand was so great. Yes, the demand is great in Europe. However, noni is classifies as a "novel food" and must go through a very rigorous process to be approved for usage to member states.

Morinda, the largest seller of noni in the world spent over $3 million and four years to get their juice approved in July of 2003. How was McMurrain going to sell noni in Europe? Where would he process the fruit into juice for export? You and I both know the answer.

I hope he ends in jail, rather than getting away with it again. He probably saw the handwriting on the wall when the new government winners were announced. He couldn't buy anymore influence.

Keep up the great articles. Your articles and news features helped me make the final decision to move to Panama. I live in the David area now and do not think at all about returning to the USA.

Mike Vorderburg

Editor's note: If McMurrain has left Bocas, we have made inquiries and been unable to confirm this. The Panama News has not checked out and does not vouch for some of the other allegations in the above letter. As far as we know, one of McMurrain's former sales guys was busted for allegedly having sexual relations with minors but we weren't aware of a pornography angle to the charge.

My wife and I are seriously considering moving to Panama from Costa Rica and when I found your on-line newspaper I must say I am very impressed with the coverage and content. I reckon it takes a brave person to be a news editor, fantastic work. We have an online newspaper here and I thought that was good but yours makes Jay Brodell's effort nothing compared to yours.

Robert Joy
Costa Rica

This is just to say Thanx for an outstanding job.

I am married to a Panamanian and she and I frequently travel to Panama on vacation and in between I keep up with the news on your site.

My brother in law was and is a big supporter for Martin and I always got to listen to allot of what Martin was about even got to meet him once a few months back when he came out to the house and enjoyed everything he had to say. All I can say is thank God the B&%#H is on her way out. I have watched what her and her kind have done to Panama for 18 years now and can't wait for the idiots to be finally gone.

Also I hope this leads up to my moving back to Panama in the future.

Thanx once again for being there.

T.S. Rose
Arizona USA

Hello... and THANK YOU! My husband and I have been thinking about buying real estate in the Panama area (yes, after reading one of those "glorious" recommendations) where there are no hurricanes, no earthquakes and the temperature remains hot at night but cools down considerably in the day... jungle life, in some respects, wild animals roam freely on the roads (but not more than one or two at a time... tigers???)

We are STILL interested in your area but would like to know just who would be trustworthy to find out more information on real estate there? Not necessarily owning it, although that is what we would LIKE to do, but just how the government works in that respect. Are we allowed to "own" any land for living, say, 10 months or so out of a year? Where can I find this type of information?

And, thank you again....I found your articles and your newspaper via online, fascinating....

How can I make sure I get a current online paper from you? I don't know how old the one I just read, is.

Thank you so much for your time, and all the effort you put into your newspaper.

Marion and David Kuebler

Editor's note: As one reader pointed out above, and as most of the regular readers must have especially noticed with this past issue, the uploading of The Panama News is often a day or more late. But generally if you look near the top of the page, below the logo and to the right, there will be in red type the volume, number and dates of the current issue. The schedule is that it is uploaded on the first and third "complete weekend" --- a weekend with a Friday, Saturday and Sunday within the month --- of every month. Unusual scheduling problems like events to cover during a production weekend, illness, fatigue, computer problems or the editor's laziness can disrupt the production schedule.

Panama has some unevenly enforced laws banning foreign ownership of islands and of real estate close to the Costa Rican or Colombian borders, but in general this country is good about protecting property rights of both foreigners and citizens. However, if you are thinking of having a house in the country and leaving it for awhile, or about buying a lot now with plans to build on it later, your choice of a caretaker is very important. You probably don't want your vacant lot invaded by squatters --- although in certain circumstances a good relationship with a squatter can be an effective means to protect your land --- and you certainly don't want to come back to your house in the Interior after a couple of months in the states to find only a concrete slab left. And even before you get to such considerations, you need to look out for swindles when buying real estate, especially because our current Attorney General appears to think that it's acceptable for Panamanian or foreign hustlers to defraud foreigners and will do nothing to protect you if you get taken. You really should have an honest and capable lawyer's assistance when buying real estate here, especially because we don't have title insurance as you would know it in the United States.

Our jungle wildlife is almost always something to behold and not to fear. The most spectacular cats, the jaguars and the pumas, tend to be shy and nocturnal. If you get bitten by one of our most dangerous snakes, the bushmasters, fer-de-lances and corals, it will surely be a rare and unpleasant experience but you probably won't die. Do not tease the crocodiles or handle the sloths. And understand that the most dangerous animals in Panama, if we are to look at the human death toll over the past 150 years or so, are mosquitoes. But these days we don't have yellow fever here and malaria is a problem mainly in very remote swampy areas, leaving dengue fever --- usually just a week-long flu-like misery --- as your main mosquito-borne concern.

Wanted to wish you a 'thumbs up' for the excellent work at The Panama News.

See http://www.puravida.be/view.php?id=349.

John

I am a Panamanian that has resided here in the US for half my life. I tend to read your commentaries from time to time and one particular article you wrote caught my attention. In this article, you mentioned that the US public is almost evenly divided into the Pro-Bush camp and the Non-Bush (Democrat) camp.

What is happening here in the US as of late is that the public here in the is starting to realize that the media is bias in the reporting of the news and largely dominated by liberals. This bias has started to be recognized by a lot of Americans including Latinos living here in the US. The AM radio waves here in the US are just about the only medium that will give you the different side of the story when it comes to the news. Although most of us realize that the commentators on the AM radio are mainly on the right of the political spectrum or Pro-Republicans, it's somewhat refreshing to hear them. They analyze the situation and present in my opinion a better analysis than what most reporters get from the AP wires.

I believe that you should pay close attention to what is really happening here in the US. There is a reason for the divisiveness and that is the American public is starting to wake up.

Tony Chalhoub
Osceola County, Florida

On your Panama News Briefs and Business & Economy Briefs pages, you sometimes cite other newspapers as the source and sometimes identify no source, and there are no bylines. So who writes these and where does this person get the information?

Name withheld

Editor's note: I do the briefs, from newspaper clippings, press releases, notes on television broadcasts, wire service reports and occasionally from my own original reporting. If there is only one source, it is identified, but most often the stories in the briefs have been covered by several Spanish-language Panamanian news media and I draw on these various sources, distill them down to a paragraph and don't identify a particular source. The briefs take a lot of time to produce and are one of the more popular features of this publication, but should be seen as news summaries rather than original journalism.

My name is Karen Chen and I am 10 years old. I am a fourth grader in Floris Elementary School. I would really like to tell you about a group of teenagers that call themselves Pedals of Peace. But first of all, I would like to tell you about a group called Petals of Peace. Petals of Peace was set up when many people were moved by the Fadu story. A three-year-old Australian girl, Fadu, lost her father when he was tortured to death for practicing a peaceful meditation called Falun Gong, which follows the principles of Truth, Compassion, and Tolerance. At that time, Fadu was only a few months old. This left Fadu and her mother heartbroken. Many other stories like this happened in China, too, though. Petals of Peace gives ideas and helps to save these children in China who are persecuted. Many kids around the world make paper lotus flowers (Petals of Peace) as well as banners, postcards, and other materials to make sure everyone understands what is happening to the children in China.

Chinese children in China are being persecuted in all ways. Young practitioners' parents are taken away to labor camps and jail when no one is to care for the kids at home. This has left many children hungry with no one to feed them and they also feel lonely. Other children in their school will not like anyone who has their parents in jail, right? If the principal of his or her school finds out, they will expel the student from that school. So many of them have no education now. Many kids in China have also been directly persecuted. Chinese police break into the children's homes and ask questions like: Where are your parents? Do you practice Falun Gong? Are your parents Falun Gong practitioners? If the young practitioner refused to answer, the police would sometimes hit them and kick them or not let them get up. What's the whole point of this? There is none. These Dafa practitioners must be freed and the persecution of Falun Gong must end.

My mom and dad have been practicing Falun Gong since 1996, when I was two. Falun Dafa made me a good person. I'm a good student at school. When somebody hits me or pushes me, I do not do it back. When somebody curses at me or says bad words to me, I don' t mind because I'm a Falun Dafa practitioner. Falun Dafa has helped my whole family. My dad used to have Hepatitis B. He could not even get up from bed. After he started practicing Falun Dafa he got cured. My mom and dad don' t get mad at each other anymore and we are a great family. Falun Gong teaches people to be truthful, benevolent, and tolerant. This is a very peaceful exercise.

When I was in China five years ago, they had TV programs saying bad words about Falun Dafa all the time. I have experienced the persecution of children, too. My grandmother is also a Falun Dafa practitioner like me and she was arrested in her home last year. The police took my granny and put her under arrest for two months not letting anyone see her. They even took away her passport and told her she was not allowed to come see her relatives in the United States. When I heard the news I was really shocked and felt terrible. A perfectly kind woman being taken away! I truly miss my grandma and want to see her. I hope that the persecution will end and so then all the other mothers, fathers, relatives, and children can be safe and won't be persecuted in any way.

Right now, the persecution of Falun Dafa practitioners is still going on.

On May 27, in Chicago, a lawsuit against Jiang Zemin (the former Chinese president leading the persecution of Falun Gong) will be held. So six teens are going to ride bikes from Washington, DC to Chicago to tell everyone about the persecution. The teens call themselves Pedals of Peace. The route is 700 miles long and they're going to stop at schools along the way and tell them about Pedals of Peace. The journey is called Save the Kids Ride. This whole route is going to take a week long from May 13th to May 20th. A rally will be held on the 13th to see the bike riders set off. We hope that you can help support Pedals of Peace in any way and that would be a great contribution.

Amy Shi and I were the two actresses in this short prize-winning film Wish --- www.WalkYourPathWell.net/wish/. I hope you can spend a few minutes watching it.

The Pedals of Peace site -- www.PedalsOfPeace.org

Again, please help and support Pedals of Peace and Petals of Peace. Thank you!

Karen Chen

Editor's note: The above letter was received too late to include in the issue before the bicycle ride and rally referred to in the future tense. However, China's cruel and downright weird wave of repression against the Falun Gong meditation group is ongoing.

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