opinion

Do I hear the dogs of destiny on the Mireyistas’ trail? I think I’ll join them.

Issues of corruption have been raised with respect to the previous administration. Various claims of criminal culpability have been duly filed with prosecutors and more are on the way. The ex-president is in any case especially discredited at the moment, given the revelations that through her presidential “secret fund” she spent more than a thousand dollars of public funds per day on clothing, plus a lot more if you want to count the jewelry, and then if we want to really get rude we could consider the state-financed cosmetic surgeries for her excellency and others in her entourage.

AWOOOOOO, woof woof SNAP!

Yes, these first few months of the new administration have required an unfortunate amount of attention to the abuses of the previous one. Yes, what needs to be done is inherently “political.” The principle of accountability needs to be established in the political sphere, and that’s bound to generate complaints of persecution.

Not everybody who served in Mireya Moscoso’s administration was a crook --- not by a long shot --- but the atmosphere of generalized corruption during her time was sufficiently thick to drive large investments away from the Panamanian economy. Legitimate foreign investors and a number of this country’s richest people parked their money elsewhere. As in Noriega’s time, during Mireya’s administration the costs of corruption simply priced Panama out of consideration by many important investors.

Grrrrrr --- nip....

And now some of the worst crooks in Mireya’s administration, having flaunted their new found wealth, are being called to account for their apparently inexplicable accumulation of wealth while occupying public offices.

But back to all the haute couture, the reddest meat for both lone wolves and the pack:

AWOOOOOO, woof woof woof....

Remember Imelda Marcos and her pathologically huge collection of shoes?

It was alleged at the time that a shoe closet of this sort was prima facie proof of swinish tendencies. It was a hard argument to dispute.

But there was a counterpoint, you may recall. (No, not just the infamous denial: “I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty.”) The former first lady of the Philippines also pleaded that shoemaking is an important industry in her country, and that her acceptance of gifts from national shoemakers was a way to promote this sector of her country’s economy.

Alas, Mireya can’t make any such excuse. Yes, we do have a national fashion design scene, but Mireya prefers the imports. So much for the old Arnulfista pretense of cultural nationalism.

Growl. Snap.

The Moscoso clique needs to be taken down, because its members were too brazen about their corruption, and took too much from Panama. If these people don’t take the fall, it will be an invitation to successors --- if not the present ones, then some subsequent set --- to do the same.

But any well cultivated canine instinct will notice the occasional aroma of bait, of trumped up tales and old news with new spins that seem designed to distract attention from the here and now. And let us all avoid too-broad presumptions that smear innocent people along with the crooks. Nevertheless,

AWWOOOOOOOO!!! Woof woof woof woof!!! CHOMP!!!

It can be fun to hound the corrupt and arrogant once they are out of office. For awhile. To the extent necessary to make an important point.

But at a certain point, chasing the abuses of the past compares to riding herd on the present something like Purina crunchies do to a thick t-bone steak.

And besides, the Mireyistas can give you fleas and ticks.



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Evans, Change a la Uruguaya
Lerner, The Democrats' missing spirituality
Bernal, Discretionary funds and corruption
Jackson, To get downright animalistic about it

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