Most ads are interactive -- click on them to visit the folks who make The Panama News possible

FOR RENT temporary housing short or longer term Click here for 2 br condo in Panama City Click here for 1 br apt. in Bocas del Toro

front page
 

The sky's the limit

Here we have one of the positive signs of a new administration's first year. After five lost years in which community support for the nation's public education system wasn't particularly encouraged, the schools are once again beginning to take advantage of the expertise, good will and concern for Panama's future that's abroad in the land. On this occasion Panama's amateur astronomers, people from a Florida community college and a business in Santa Clara took the opportunity created by a solar eclipse to help a group of students and teachers from two Cocle public schools with the science and math lessons to which such an event lends itself.

Who knows where it will lead? Panama is actually well positioned to take advantage of a nascent trend in space travel, the idea of private companies launching rockets into orbit from international waters in equatorial regions. (Why equatorial? Because the Earth turns faster at the equator, which gives a space launch more of a natural boost toward the needed velocity to reach a stationary orbit or to escape the planet's gravity altogether, and that means that it takes less fuel to get there from here than it does from Cape Canaveral. Why international waters? Because there are fewer opportunities for accidents affecting people on the ground, and because there are fewer taxes and regulations when one operates there. Why Panama? Because, in addition to our good location, we have a modern maritime infrastructure that would lend itself to supporting the needs of a sea launch system.)

The one thing that we do know for sure is that a strong educational system is a necessary component for any national progress. The eternal arguments about what constitutes progress and how and what to teach in school rage on, but at least we now have an education minister who cares about such things and compared to what went on in the prior administration that alone is a major advance.

I got back to the city from Santa Clara, observed the eclipse with people on my block in Panama City the following afternoon, and the morning after that headed for the Darien. My main interests there were Embera basket weaving from a business point of view and to see how a community affected by the floods that inundated the Chucunaque River and its tributaries a few months ago is getting along with its recovery.

Ah, but you don't go to and from Embera country without an interesting travel story to tell, and the arts that you went to see will not be the only ones you will encounter. Thus we have a little vignette on Embera body painting in the arts section, and a long article about the drive to Yaviza and back in the travel section.

During my trip to the Darien police and immigration officials were out in force, repeatedly checking IDs in a search for illegal aliens, particularly for Colombians whose papers are not in order. This crackdown is not only to be observed going to and from the provinces that border on Colombia, but also in upscale Paitilla, on the road to Colon and elsewhere in the country. It's also reflected on the National Assembly's legislative docket, with proposed changes to Panama's immigration laws.

Is it possible to have a rational debate on immigration, one without cheap demagoguery, brazen appeals to xenophobia and all the other nonsense that comes up when the issue is broached? Well, yes and no, respectively. Yes, we can and must address the issue with intelligent and sober minds, but no, we can't do so without hearing about how foreigners are taking all the good jobs away and listening to all the tired and despicable stereotypes.

Many of those stereotypes are specifically about Colombians. Most of the undocumented foreigners who are deported from here are Colombian, and anyone who desires to smear all of these people as gangsters and prostitutes can find plenty of individual examples to highlight. But after that the argument is dashed to pieces on the breakwall of the truth, because most of the Colombians who come to Panama aren't hoodlums. Many of them, in fact, are here precisely to get away from the crime and civil conflict that plague their native land.

But control over who gets into a country is a fundamental aspect of its sovereignty, and nobody can reasonably deny that Panama has been infested by Colombian criminal organizations, that Colombia's civil conflict spills over into Panama in several ways and that a number of the wealthy Colombian investors who have been welcomed into Panama have brought a thuggish business culture with them.

Moreover, we have antiquated immigration laws that include some racist presumptions, that encourage the corruption of public officials, that are not conducive to the unification of families and that prevent Panama from attracting those with skills and education who would contribute toward our economic development.

Plus a large minority of this country's population --- maybe one-quarter --- is composed of foreigners. Any effective effort to get a handle on illegal immigration must necessarily include an amnesty that allows those who have been here for a long time and behaved themselves to legalize their status, so that the authorities can concentrate their attention on the troublesome elements.

A thorough national debate about immigration policies is needed, and if the price that we have to pay is listening to the braying of intolerant jackasses it's worth paying, so long as we don't let such voices dissuade us from doing what's right for Panama.

Whether our legislature is capable of doing the right things is another question, one that in another context tops this issue's letters to the editor page. And now we have the suplentes --- the alternate legislators --- demanding a pay increase by way of a most dubious argument that their function is as valuable as the administrative role played by the government's vice-ministers. So far President Torrijos has been hesitant to assert his leadership to curb the sordid excesses of the legislative branch, but he can get a good start on this unpleasant task by slapping down this obnoxious initiative.

The rainy season has begun, and so has the job of replacing the roof at the Muchachas Guias (Girl Scouts) building that houses The Panama News office. It means a certain disruption of my routine, but luckily there are five Fridays in April this year, which in turn means a three-week interval between this issue and the following one. (We publish twice per month, rather than every two weeks, which gives me these occasional longer breathing spaces.)

Between now and the next issue we'll know whether Roberto "Araña" Vásquez will join the pantheon of Panama's world champion pugilists, as he takes on Colombian Beibis Mendoza for the WBA junior flyweight title on April 29 at the Figali Convention Center. Quite frankly, that unfinished and financially troubled venue isn't the most desirable place for either a concert or a boxing match, so I imagine that a lot of folks will catch the nationally televised bout at home instead.

In May there will be a lot of cultural activities in Panama City, and for the English-speaking community it's a time to lay important foundations for our artistic future. As usual the International School of Panama will by showing off their excellent drama program in their annual school play at the Ancon Theater, and now the little wooden playhouse in Ancon is the place where a new organization, the Panama Junior Actors Club, inspires and refines the talents of kids 18 and under.

Yes, there is plenty of bad news to report as always, but it does feel good to have some positive things to report, as I do in this issue.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson
the editor