letters

In my opinion the proposals that have come forth in these past days are very wise, in the sense that the final decision about the Social Security Fund reforms being first approved by a referendum. With respect to that I want to make public these comments:

1. He hasn't been heard, but I understand that a distinguished ex-magistrate of the Supreme Court has said that the proposed referendum has not legal basis. He has, in effect, a very valid opinion if it is treated under the doctrine of "obligatory referendum." Our Constitution only contemplates obligatory referenda in the case of the Panama Canal and for the Modification of the Constitution by just one assembly in two sessions.

2. However, what's proposed is under the doctrine of "authorizing referendum" (referéndum facultativo). See, among many other sources, Borja's "Enciclopedia de la Política," page 857 and following). The difference between the two types of referenda, at times, is given as the distinction between a referendum and a plebiscite, but these days that classification causes more confusion.

3. In an "authorizing referendum," there is no legally binding result, but the only guarantee the result has is a political promise, which must be more binding than the content of a judicial norm. This type of referendum can be convoked by the executive branch by way of a decree, and by the legislative branch by way of a law. In these situations the Electoral Tribunal will not be --- legally --- obliged to run this authorizing referendum (although morally it would be).

4. My proposal as a presidential candidate in July of 2003, reiterated and refined on later occasions, presupposed the following steps:

A) Designation of an eminently technical (and not "political" in the immoral sense of the word) presidential commission to plan a viable solution.

B) Consideration for approval of the solution presented by the presidential commission to the Cabinet. If it is approved an "authorizing referendum" would be called, with a serious political commitment to obey the results of the referendum.

C) Broad public debate about the reforms for three months, with equal participation of those who support it and those who reject it. The presidential commission and the government must satisfactorily explain why the reforms are necessary, and make a detailed, clear and convincing justification for each of the proposed measures.

D) If the authorizing referendum approves the reforms, the executive will introduce a bill with the approved reforms to the National Assembly, with a promise to veto any proposed law that disavows the results of the authorizing referendum which it might approve.

Guillermo Endara Galimany
former President of Panama
Provisional president of the Moral Vanguard of the Country

I have received an announcement from the Partido Verde Oxigeno of Colombia as I am in contact with them through the Comite Ingrid Betancourt. All the the French-speaking Belgian political parties will be represented in Bogota next week, during a series of five activities to commemorate the third anniversary of the Green presidential candidate's kidnapping and to demand that FARC release Ingrid and their many other kidnapping victims. Like last year, a religious service will be dedicated to the kidnapped of Colombia at 7:30 pm on February 23 at the Church of San Juan in Brisas del Golf, Panama.

Andre
Panama

Please visit http://www.fredsalaff.com for more information on what actually happened at the Veracruz residence where the adult films were produced.

You will find that the allegations in the papers are not completely accurate, and in fact all relevant authorities were notified of what was going on before the fact.

Your story shows up at http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_11/issue_02/news_briefs.html

You might certainly not agree with the morality of the situation, but there seems to be nothing illegal in what was done.

On behalf of
Fred Salaff (in jail)
The FJS Group

Editor's note: As is rightly pointed out, allegations are merely that. This editor's opinions as a cultural critic may at times be unappreciative, but they don't extend to any desire to be a censor. For the record, I don't think that pornography involving consenting adults ought to be a crime. Nor, though I deplore it on several grounds, would I ban the gory "necro-porn" seen on the covers of La Critica and El Siglo, the two papers that seem to be Mr. Salaff's most strident critics. Even if it is true that Mr. Salaff didn't get all of the right permits to do what he was doing, it would seem more just to fine him or expel him from the country than to jail him.

The question was:

"How come there has never been a major arrest of the people involved in the sewer cap and storm drain grill theft for recycling racket? Really, it shouldn't be such a hard case to investigate and litigate. If it's true that there's a foundry somewhere that melts these things down, then the ingots or other products of that foundry may be identifiable if they show up on the market. People who steal these things can be observed, identified and followed to the next level of the business...." (See http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_11/issue_03/opinion_01.html.)

Where are these going? Very easy: The Chinese scrap people are buying every pound of scrap iron/steel/ anything metal they can get their grubby hands on and sending it all to China. I saw a group of teenagers in Ciudad Radial last week sawing down a iron railing over a bridge and yelled at them to stop. It was gone the next day.

The foundry that makes these is located next to me in Juan Diaz (Funducion Centroamericana) They can't afford to pay the outrageous prices the Chinese are paying, so all the ladrones are going to the Chinese.

name withheld
Panama

We should congratulate and thank the people of Chile for giving us the greatest hero of the Western Hemisphere during the latter part ofthe 20th century in the form of General Augusto Pinochet who saved Chile in 1973 by ousting marxist dictator Salvador Allende in the most brilliant military preservation of a nation's constitution and freedom in our time during a period of unprecedented communist turmoil and brutality in Chile. Had General Pinochet not acted when he did to save Chile, the people of Chile today would be languishing in a vast prison state and never again would be heard the muse.

It greatly saddens me to see news of the attacks now being heaped on this great warrior and savior of Chile, and benefactor of our hemisphere, by Chilean officials who apparently have no integrity, souls, or morality. It's obvious that the Communists, the Marxist Left,and the one world internationalists hate Pinochet not only because he led one of the few counter-revolutions that succeeded in ousting a Communist regime, but also because he is a Christian patriot who stands for everything they oppose. We and the people of Chile should revere and protect General Pinochet as the great hero of our time and hemisphere, and consign his adversaries to the dustbin of history where they can revel in their dimly lit rooms and demented lost dreams of us as slaves in their socialist gulags, and them stepping on a human face forever.

See http://www.thenewamerican.com (search: pinochet) or http://www.jbs.org and send communications of protest to Chilean leaders and media, and our own leaders and media immediately, and demand they protect our hemisphere by defending Pinochet and propagating his legacy NOW and forever!

Ed Nemechek,
Adelanto, California, USA

Back to top

Financial services at Finansbanken --- http://www.finansbanken.dk/english/index.html
Build a home in Las Cumbres with Villa Concordia --- http://villaconcordia-pma.com/
Make the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://www.executivehotel-panama.com