On May 2, the PRD-Partido Popular alliance that had opposed a “fifth ballot” referendum about whether to convene a constituent assembly to write a new constitution scored a sweeping victory, taking the presidency and creating an absolute PRD majority in the next Legislative Assembly. So much for the idea of a complete constitutional makeover, so it would seem.
But in front of an audience of students and professors at the University of Panama’s law school, the man who finished second on May 2nd opined that the final word has yet to be spoken.
Guillermo Endara spoke at what was supposed to be a panel discussion that included fourth-place presidential candidate Ricardo Martinelli and the president of the current legislature, Jacobo Salas. Salas, who was thrown out by his Colon constituency and Martinelli, whose Cambio Democratico party barely survived and now faces a situation in which it has little bargaining leverage to pry political patronage plums out of the incoming government, didn’t show up. But a lot of young men and women who fervently believe in a new constitution as the means to establish the rule of law did attend, because they want to practice law and not negotiate bribes.
This was Endara’s return to his alma mater, and he began by recalling the role that University of Panama law school professors and students played in opposing the military dictatorship, and noted that his wife is also a graduate of this school.
The ex-president went on to explain the political realities that prevented him from calling a constituent assembly during his 1989-1994 administration, and to distinguish between a legitimate project for a new constitution and a cynical maneuver to overturn the results of the recent election.
True, Endara conceded, the present constitution does not provide for the possibility of a constituent assembly. But he argued that in a democracy “these are political acts, usually in a crisis. They happen when a society reaches the decision that they need a new framework,” he argued, whether or not the people in office would prefer it.
And Endara said that, although he can’t predict the future, the probability of a crisis is high. That’s because he looks at the government and sees all three branches “in collapse."
Yes, the executive and legislative branches are about to pass into new hands. But Endara derided such palliatives as the current legislature’s decision to give future deputies one tax-free luxury car instead of three, and called the PRD-Partido Popular stratagem to pass certain reforms by submitting them to the current lame duck assembly and ratifying them in the next one mere “patches.”
“The constitution has been thrown in the trash,” he argued. “This constitution is now dead.”
As examples he cited the constitutional provision reserving gambling to the public sector, and pointed to the proliferation of private casinos not only in the tourist hotels, but in neighborhoods like Rio Abajo. He noted the section reserving retail business for Panamanian citizens, and advised the students to “go to any gas station and ask who owns it,” or to consider how many of the stores in the Interior are owned by Chinese citizens. (“I have nothing against orientals --- I’m married to one,” he added.)
Endara reserved his most potent venom for the judiciary in general and the Supreme Court in particular. “This court is super-collapsed. Nobody believes in it. Everyone knows that its decisions have prices.”
He also warned that any free trade agreement with the United States would necessarily make the current constitution even more of a dead letter. A negotiating process that leaves any social sector on the sidelines, he opined, is “the most dangerous thing that can be.”
And what of the proposals coming from the Electoral Tribunal and legislators Jerry Wilson (PRD) and Teresita de Arias for constitutional changes by the legislative route? “Every change of government is a good time” to enact specific reforms, Endara said, noting that he and his successor, Ernesto Pérez Balladares, used that method to formally abolish Panama’s military. But he objected to one of the specific changes that has been proffered, the suggestion that the Electoral Tribunal should have financial autonomy. “There has to be some control,” the former president argued, rejecting the notion that a blank check for the Electoral Tribunal would be an advance for Panamanian democracy.
Endara concluded that expects, although he doesn’t predict, that “a crisis will come that will be difficult to escape without a constituent assembly.”
“Martín Torrijos apparently doesn’t want a constituent assembly, but constituent assemblies don’t happen because they are wanted but because they are needed,” he added.
Also in this section:
Panama News Briefs
USAID cuts off Panama's courts
Torture pictures and the law
Endara predicts new constitution despite PRD opposition
Young illegal immigrants easy prey in the USA
American Democrats gather in Panama
