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newsAlso in this section: Panama News Briefs
Lewis Navarro presides over historic OAS impasse Vice President Samuel Lewis Navarro, who is also Panama's foreign minister, by luck of the rotation found himself chairing the April 11 meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington. On the agenda that day was the selection of a new secretary general to replace former Costa Rican President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez who was forced to resign because of a corruption scandal. Before the meeting the US-backed candidate, former Salvadoran President Francisco Flores, pulled out when it appeared that other than the Bush administration his only supporters came from Central America. That left Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Derbez and Chilean Interior Minister José Miguel Insulza still in the running, but after the first votes were counted it was a 17-17 tie, and four more rounds of voting produced identical results. There will be another meeting and another vote on May 2, and it's possible that in the meantime a third candidate will emerge. The way that Panama's ambassador to the OAS, former President Aristides Royo, spun it, "democracy won in the OAS." Other observers noted that although the United States used to always get its way in the OAS, American influence in the hemispheric organization has sunk to a new low.
Will Americans need passports to get back Porous US borders are conflicting George W. Bush of late. He hasn't had much to say about convicted civilian airliner bomber Luis Posada Carriles, a hero to Bush's ultra-rightist Cuban-American supporters, sneaking into the country from Mexico. But he was governor of Texas and understands something of the value of the daily comings and goings of American citizens between that state and Mexico. So when Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice announced a series of border tightenings in the name of fighting terrorism, which include the need for American citizens to present passports to get back into the country from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and Panama, the president balked. The plan would have taken effect in 2008, but Bush has put it on hold after protests from many quarters. Currently, American citizens can get back into the states from Panama by presenting a government-issued photo ID card such as a driver's license and proof of citizenship such as an original birth certificate that shows US birth.
Immigration reform before the legislature The Ministry of Government and Justice has submitted a package of changes to the nation's immigration laws to the National Assembly. The main points are the creation of a single registry of all foreign citizens in Panama and a provision that would allow most of the procedures involved in coming, going or establishing legal residence to be modified by executive decree. It is likely that all sorts of proposed changes, motivated by things ranging from practicality or justice to the more sordid forms of hatred and demagoguery, will be suggested in the legislative process.
Tito Santana confirmed as Naso king, Tito Santana, who was driven from the royal home a few months back in a coup led by his uncle, has won an April 3 vote that confirms his place on the Naso throne. With about one-third of the voters on the rolls participating and his opponents boycotting the election, he won with only a few spoiled ballots cast. However, his opponents have denounced the election, alleging that the poll lists were rigged and that the Torrijos administration improperly interfered. The main bone of contention among the members of the some 3,000-strong indigenous nation along the Teribe River in Bocas del Toro province is a proposed hydroelectric dam project, which the king supports and his opponents don't.
Quashing of high court corruption complaints unpopular According to a Dichter & Neira poll commissioned for and published by La Prensa, 80.8 percent of Panamanians disapprove of the National Assembly's summary dismissal of complaints about corruption involving most members of the Supreme Court. A subcommittee of the Credentials Committee voted not to investigate the charges of bribery and conflict of interest by inventing a legal theory that they can't investigate anything that hasn't been proven without need for an investigation. The president of the Credentials Committee is deputy Benicio Robinson (PRD-Bocas del Toro) and the subcommittee members who voted for corruption with impunity in our court system are deputies Argentina Arias (Panameñista-Arraijan), Héctor Aparicio (MOLIRENA-Veraguas) and Augustín Escudé (PRD-Chiriqui).
Police sergeant dies during PT On April 10 36-year-old Police Sergeant Sebastián Puerta collapsed while on an obstacle course trying to pass the physical to be promoted, and was taken to the Arnulfo Arias Hospital Complex where he died shortly thereafter in intensive care. The National Police have recently stiffened their physical fitness requirements for all ranks.
Name dropping may not be a good tactic When immigration officers showed up at the Cafe Sante in Multicentro on April 13 to check the identification of employees in search for illegal aliens, proprietors Moisés and Fernando Fraguela tried to bar their entry, then threatened to have the officers fired. How could they do that? Their cousin Alfonso Fraguela is the president's press spokesman. But it didn't seem to work and now the brothers have received a lot of bad publicity and may face charges for interfering with the immigration officers. Multicentro, which was developed by a Colombian, attracts many Colombian shoppers, only some of whom are here legally and, so Migracion suspects, may have undocumented foreigners working there.
First lady frustrated by delayed investigation First Lady Vivian Fernández de Torrijos has called for the Supreme Court to hurry up and decide whether an investigation of the possible diversion of Taiwanese aid to the national health care system and for a children's museum in Curundu Flats can proceed. The investigation, which involves the handling of nearly $80 million through "private" foundations set up and "staffed" at high salaries by members of the Moscoso inner circle who already had full-time jobs, has been stalled in the high court for months, after a motion to quash it based on a claim that Mireya Moscoso is immune from criminal prosecution was filed. In prior political scandals, the court has held that if one person involved in a criminal enterprise enjoys legislative immunity then accomplices who have no immunity of their own are also protected. The ex-president's sister, former First Lady Ruby Moscoso de Young, would have no immunity of her own, nor would a number of the other Mireyista insiders involved with the questioned foundations. However, although she does not attend its sessions Mireya has been sworn in as a member of the Central American Parliament, which gives her immunity from investigation, prosecution or punishment for all criminal acts.
Ameglio requests probe of Mireya's party funds management The new president of the Panameñista (former Arnulfista) Party, ex-legislator Marco Ameglio, has asked the Electoral Tribunal for an investigation of how some $375,000 in public subsidies that the party received between June of 2004 and March of this year were spent. When Ameglio took the party reins after former President Mireya Moscoso's recent resignation, he found empty bank accounts, party assets in the name of Mireyista insiders rather than the organization and no records for the better part of a year's expenditures. Panamanian election laws give parties public subsidies based on the number of votes they received in the preceding elections, with few strings attached. However, the parties are supposed to account for how the funds were spent in filings with the Electoral Tribunal and failure to do so can get the subsidies cut off.
Former PTJ deputy chief, medical examiner in deeper trouble The scandal over an orgy at the Plaza Paitilla Inn that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old woman gets ever more serious for some public officials who have been linked to a cover-up. The suspended number two man at the Judicial Technical Police (PTJ), Erick Bravo, is alleging that he's the victim of a set-up, but on April 4 he was hauled before prosecutors for interrogation about allegations that he manipulated the investigation to falsify the cause of death and to keep the names of some politically connected male participants out of the case file. Bravo, who is represented by former Supreme Court magistrate Aura Emérita Guerra de Villalaz, complains that the prosecutors have kept him from presenting evidence that shows his innocence. Meanwhile, medical examiner Luis Benítez is facing an internal investigation that could lead to his dismissal because he conducted an incomplete autopsy, allowed the body out of the Institute of Legal Medicine's possession for cremation, and ruled that the cause of death was an auto accident. A panel of forensic specialists reviewing the photos and other data from Benítez's autopsy opined that the death was actually a result of a fall from the 17th floor of the hotel, where they orgy took place. Because witnesses say that drugs were consumed at the event, the case has been referred to the anti-drug prosecutor. So far a Guatemalan woman who contracted the services of the deceased and other prostitutes is in jail, and Chiriqui engineer Amael Acosta (an orgy participant who allegedly coordinated the witnesses' cover stories) remains at large and may have fled the country. Neck bruises in the post-mortem photos of the deceased woman suggest strangulation, whether in the course of rough sex or of an altercation, and witnesses reportedly said that at a certain point in the fateful night the deceased became hoarse-voiced and disoriented, and treated the condition by consuming cocaine. But because of the body's cremation, the precise cause and train events leading to the death may never be definitively proven.
Sossa accused of obstructing justice Jorge Motley, Panama's former INTERPOL chief, has filed a criminal complaint against former Attorney General José Antonio Sossa, former Public Ministry secretary general and current anti-drug prosecutor Rosendo Miranda, alleging that they protected "offshore asset protection guru" Marc Harris, who is now doing doing 12 to 17 years in a US prison for money laundering and other offenses when foreign governments asked for Panamanian help in various criminal investigations directed at Harris. When Sossa was attorney general several other complaints about how Harris had stolen money from his clients also failed to elicit any action. Harris, who was Florida director for Alexander Haig's ill-fated 1988 campaign for the GOP nomination for US president, came to Panama after his Florida CPA license was suspended for misconduct and fell in with PRD circles, garnering such support as having Pablo Thalassinos, the education minister during the Pérez Balladares administration, pose with him for publicity photos. When the Arnulfistas came to power to cost of staying in business became too high for Harris to continue so he fled to Nicaragua, which ended up extraditing him to the United States.
Olmos out as environmental prosecutor According to La Prensa, environmental prosecutor Giovanni Olmos has been fired after a disciplinary investigation. He had been off the job for reasons of ill health at the time of his dismissal. Upon taking office as Attorney General at the beginning of this year, Ana Matilde Gómez asked for all prosecutors to submit their resignations but received only a few such letters. Part of her first months on the job have been spent on investigating alleged misconduct in the Public Ministry during her predecessor José Antonio Sossa's time, ranging from the theft of electricity to obstruction of justice.
Bocas PRD pols accuse one another In the PRD primary to select legislative candidates for the 2004 elections, Benicio Robinson defeated incumbent Omar Chen and went on to win a seat in the assembly. When the Torrijos administration took office, Chen was appointed to head the National Lottery. But all the bad blood between the two Bocas del Toro politicians. Chen, through his attorney Olmedo Arrocha, has filed fraud and forgery charges against Robinson, alleging that the latter, a minor shareholder in a company of which Chen is half owner, obtained a $400,000 bank loan backed by the company's assets without his knowledge or consent, and using forged signatures of company directors. Chen alleges that Robinson used the proceeds to finance his campaign, and that afterwards when the loan went unpaid real estate owned by the company was attached by the bank. Robinson denies that he was a director of the company and says he'll charge Chen with criminal defamation.
Baby selling bust An infertile middle class couple, an attorney, a nurse and a receptionist at Santo Tomas Hospital, an impoverished 24-year-old mother and an intermediary are all facing criminal charges for an attempt to sell a newborn baby for $100. All but the mother, intermediary and receptionist were granted bail.
Assembly to take up adoption laws Panama makes formal adoptions difficult and international adoptions almost impossible --- even though during the Moscoso administration there were a few law firms advertising to Americans that they could arrange international adoptions despite our laws --- and in the former case Minister of Youth, Children, Women and the Family Leonor Calderón thinks it's a bit much. Citing 112 adoption applications that have been pending since 2001, the minister has asked the legislature to take up a proposal to cut some of the red tape. It does not seem that a change in Panama's policy of discouraging international adoptions is in the cards. However, while couples from the United States shopping for babies in Panama are and will likely continue to be discouraged, foreigners who are legal residents in this country may adopt Panamanian children and many of them have done so, whether formally or informally.
Six-year-old found carrying cocaine Police and prosecutors are investigating just how it was that a six-year-old first grader at the Escuela Republica de Bolivia in Colon had 49 envelopes of cocaine and a bag of marijuana in his backpack. The kid was pointed out to a teacher by other students who noticed the contraband as the child was leaving school. There has been no announcement of any arrests or charges in the case.
Colombian diplomat investigated for illegal migration offenses According to La Estrella prosecutors in Colombia have implicated an employee in their country's consulate in Colon in an investigation about the illegal migration of Chinese citizens. The accusation is that false documents were sold from the consulate in the Atlantic side city.
Weirdness at the city dump In late March some institution in Panama City decided to dispose of some $500,000 of its worn out, canceled and mutilated US treasury notes not by burning them, but by dumping them in the Panama City municipal landfill at Cerro Patacon. The prospect of the currency, or parts of it, being exchangeable for good money immediately attracted the interest of the trash pickers who work the dump, and then a few days later armed hoodlums descended on the nearby community of Kuna Nega demanding the bills from local residents. Police are looking for both the people who dumped the currency and for the gunmen. The $50 and $100 bills are not negotiable.
Pereira Burgos sues Eisenmann Former Supreme Court president César Pereira Burgos has sued Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana president and former La Prensa publisher I. Roberto Eisenmann Jr. to the tune of $2 million for the latter's unflattering statements about how corruption flourished in the court during Pereira Burgos's tenure. Panama's dysfunctional court system might rule any way in this case, but the fundamental reality is that what Eisenmann said and wrote about the court under Pereira Burgos's leadership was true.
Legislative suplentes want more pay A group of alternate legislators --- suplentes --- has submitted a proposal to the National Assembly's Credentials Committee to raise their pay to $6,000 per month, the same amount that the government's vice ministers make. The proposal is part of a mammoth set of changes in the legislature's internal regulations --- more than 300 specific proposals in all --- that are before the committee. Many of the suplentes do little or nothing, but the running mates of the assembly's laziest deputies sometimes do spend a lot of time in legislative chambers substituting for the absentees that were at the top of their tickets. The main reason for suplentes --- other than spreading public money around among political activists --- is that legislators use them to deceive voters by sending them to vote for unpopular measures, then at election time deny criticism that they supported the objectionable proposals.
Deputies' privileges debated Also among the proposals to change the National Assembly's internal rules are at least six proposals to reduce or eliminate such perks of legislative office as free diplomatic passports for the deputies and their families, free phone service, and an exemption from paying duty on imported cars. The proponents were in some cases jeered by colleagues who want to keep their benefits.
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