A bitter transition from the Moscoso to Torrijos administrations

Six million dollars worth of concrete?

When First Lady Vivian de Torrijos assumed control of her office --- funding for which has long been part of the Panamanian government budget --- the filing cabinets were empty, there was no computer, and anyone who would have known anything about any records that her predecessor may have left behind was unavailable.

Do not think that the former first lady --- Mireya’s sister, Ruby Moscoso de Young --- was frugal or just inactive. No, we can tell from a visit to the Curundu Flats neighborhood and from foreign aid data available from the government of Taiwan that under the Moscoso regime some $6 million was spent on a children’s museum, which remains an empty concrete structure that’s clearly not worth that amount on the national construction market.

For weeks, lower level employees in several government offices and anti-corruption activist Enrique Montenegro had been complaining of wholesale document shredding. On her way, out, Mireya Moscoso pardoned all the Mireyista activists who were under investigation in vote buying scandals related to last May’s elections, and other of her loyalists suspected or accused of embezzlement from the government or state-owned entities. As the end came even closer, the former president gave her promised report on how her secret presidential fund was spent. It contained only generally described lump sums, with no specific details. She then bade the nation her tearful farewell and dropped out of public view, following in her petulant predecessor’s ill-mannered precedent by declining to attend her successor’s inauguration.

Pretty neat trick, huh?

In his inaugural address Martín Torrijos complained of these abuses, as well as a lot of last-minute financial obligations she incurred on the country’s behalf, lame duck appointments and contracts made, bills left unpaid and other abuses designed to make life miserable for the new government.

But if there is or was a “Pacto Mami” between Martín and Mireya, the former is talking as if all deals are off. “Soon we will have the exact data of the bills left unpaid, the unfinished projects, the commitments that the government has signed on behalf of the Panamanian people without the resources to pay,” he said. Promising to embark on thorough audits of all government departments the following day, and vowing to end impunity for those who had been “untouchable,” Torrijos told the nation to “Make no mistake: we are going to discover and bring to justice those who have attacked the public treasury."

But how, given all the pardons, would he be able to do that?

For one thing, Mireya Moscoso did not pardon Mireya Moscoso. While it may be true that there is a Mireyista majority on the Supreme Court --- for the time being --- and a man who came into office with a mandate to “end judicial terrorism” and who has amassed an impressive record of looking the other way when corruption rears its head is still the Attorney General --- until January --- now that she has left office an Electoral Prosecutor and an Electoral Tribunal who in a civil case arising from massive vote buying with public funds in a Darien legislative race left the distinct impression that they were not amused may feel free to go after the woman who put those funds at that legislator’s disposal.

Electoral Prosecutor Gerardo Solís has the power to bring charges against Moscoso for electoral crimes, and the Electoral Tribunal has the power to try her and if convicted to punish her, including with a prison sentence. There has yet to be an announcement, but we shall see if these powers are used.

And will the Torrijos administration allow Mireya to keep the presidential beach house at Punta Mala, now in her brother’s name after a flagrantly bogus bidding process? Will the new government honor concessions given by Martín’s predecessor to her friends and relatives? Will it just forget about where all that money for the empty museum went? The answers to these questions will be the first major reality checks of the new president’s “Zero Corruption” promise.

Look for Mireya Moscoso to face a string of legal troubles, which slowly lengthens as the fingers of her allies are pried from their remaining levers of power.

Mireya’s allies in this year’s elections seem to be looking at things that way. That’s why the legislators of the MOLIRENA and the Liberal Nacional parties, which were part of her alliance last May, have formed an opposition bloc with Solidaridad and Cambio Democratico, excluding their Arnulfista colleagues. That’s why from several corners of what’s left of the Arnulfista Party there are calls for new leadership, and pleas to reinstate the people whom Mireya purged.

As yet the Bush administration has not said whether it will allow Mireya Moscoso to flee to Disney World. But it seems that a US visa may be the least of her worries.

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A bitter transition