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newsAlso in this section: Panama News Briefs
UPDATE: increasing, sometimes violent, opposition to CSS reforms As these briefs were being nearly 400 people had been arrested and three student protesters wounded with birdshot in growing confrontations over the government's planned changes to the social security system. On Monday, May 23 students at Artes y Oficios and the Instituto Nacional blocked traffic in front of their schools, vandalized several cars and fought with riot police, and at the latter venue cops opened fire with shotguns, causing three students to be hospitalized for their injuries. There were another 25 reported injuries and 77 arrests in those confrontations. The Education Ministry then suspened classes at those two schools. The following day students at the University of Panama blocked traffic on the Transistmica but police rerouted traffic and avoided major street battles. But meanwhile across town high school students from the Colegio Richard Neumann and the Escuela Profesional Isabel Herrera de Obaldía went on a rampage of trashing and looting along Via Israel and Calle 50, and members of the SUNTRACS construction workers unions blocked traffic on and off at several points around the city. More than 300 arrests were made that day and the Ministry of Education closed all the public schools in Colon and Panama provinces and the city of Santiago. A general strike and the turmoil associated with that appears imminent, although there are doubts about how general the response to the strike call would be.
High court quashes secret fund investigations In a decision written by Moscoso appointee Alberto Cigarruista, the Supreme Court has ordered a halt to criminal investigations of the uses that former presidents Mireya Moscoso and Ernesto Pérez Balladares made of their presidential secret funds. Moscoso spent an average of more than $1,000 per day from the public coffers to buy herself clothing and jewelry over the five years of her administration. Pérez Balladares's travel expenses and allegedly irregular documentation of the uses of his secret fund were the subjects of some controversy, but nothing nearly so flagrant as Moscoso's spending on herself. With the nation's press corps, however, secret fund gifts by Pérez Balladares to corrupt journalists is considered scandalous by many, more so on the part of those who took the gifts than on the part of the president who gave them. Essentially the ruling is an extension of a series of decisions holding that presidents, former presidents and legislators involved in criminal activity are immune from both prosecution and investigation, as are accomplices who do not have any sort of claim to legal immunity in their own right.
High court quashes international bribery investigation In apparent violation of international agreements to which Panama is a party, the Supreme Court has ordered an end to an investigation of money laundering requested by Peruvian authorities. Julio Mario Santo Domingo, the principal owner of Grupo Bavaria, a Colombian-based consortium which owns Panama's Cerveceria Nacional, is accused of bribing public officials in Peru in 2002 with $1.8 million in cash that was allegedly flown into Peru from Panama. Peruvian prosecutors, citing the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption, asked their Panamanian counterparts to open a money laundering investigation, which was done. The order quashing the investigation was issued by magistrate Arturo Hoyos, who said that it would violate due process to allow prosecutors to look into the Panamanian bank records of those allegedly involved.
High court unfreezes assets in PECC scandal The Supreme Court, by a 7-2 vote, has unfrozen the assets of several persons implicated in the Ports Engineering & Consultants Corporation (PECC) affair, including those of President Torrijos's cousin and advisor Hugo Torrijos. It appears from the documentary evidence and the nature and contents of the denials issued that PECC was at least partly owned behind the scenes by former President Ernesto Pérez Balladares, and that during Toro's administration the National Ports Authority (since replaced by the National Maritime Authority), which was then headed by Hugo Torrijos, granted PECC the contract to maintain the nation's lighthouses and buoys. The case is the subject of multiple legal actions, civil and criminal, but the courts quashed the investigation as to Pérez Balladares some time ago, on the grounds that after the alleged crime he acquired immunity as a member of the Central American Parliament and that blanket impunity still protects him now that he is no longer a member of that body. Pérez Balladares says that the checks from PECC deposited in his Cayman Islands account were not dividends payable to himself as part owner of PECC but a secret contribution to his unsuccessful 1998 campaign to have the constitution amended to allow him to seek reelection.
Eaton named as new US ambassador US President George W. Bush has nominated career diplomat William A. Eaton as the new American ambassador to Panama, to replace Linda E. Watt when she retires from the Foreign Service and leaves the country in July. Eaton, who was a journalist for the Associated Press before going to work for the US State Department, has served in Guyana, Canada, Russia, Turkey, Sweden and Italy, as well as holding a number of posts at Foggy Bottom in Washington. A Virginia native, Eaton is a graduate of the University of Virginia. His nomination has progressed more rapidly than is usually the case, with hearings held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in just two weeks, which makes it very likely that the embassy here will not go through a period under a chargé d'affaires as was the case in the last several transitions.
Caribbean summit to be held in Colon It has been known for some time that the next summit of the Association of Caribbean States would be held in this country. Now we know that when the Caribbean heads of state gather on July 29 it will be in Colon rather than the capital. Colon, which is on the Caribbean Sea, has a large population of Antillean ancestry, mainly descended from people who came to the isthmus in the 19th and 20th centuries to build the Panama Railroad and work on the French and later US canal construction projects.
La Migra busts Posada Carriles Right-wing Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles, convicted here for endangering public safety in a plot to set off a powerful bomb at the University of Panama and an escapee from a Venezuelan jail where he was being held for the 1976 bombing of a Cubana civilian airliner in which 73 people were killed, has been arrested by US immigration authorities and is facing deportation proceedings. Posada Carriles, who is treated as something of a hero by many Florida Republicans, was pardoned by Mireya Moscoso during her last days in office, flew out of Panama on a chartered plane and slipped into a clandestine existence last year. Then, according to allegations made by Fidel Castro and the leftist Rebelion website, he slipped into the United States by sea from Mexico. Rebelion and the Cuban Communist Party paper Granma reported that the US Embassy here had issued travel documents to Posada Carriles and that earlier Ambassador Linda E. Watt had lobbied the Moscoso administration's National Security Council for a "solution" to the Panamanian bombing case that didn't help Castro. A spokesman for the American Embassy here categorically denied that any documents were issued to Posada Carriles or that Watt had lobbied Moscoso about the matter, and further claimed that the embassy was taken by surprise by the pardons of Posada Carriles and his accomplices. Editor's note: In the previous issue The Panama News mentioned the allegation about Watt lobbying the Panamanian government with respect to this case, but failed to state that these claims were first made in Rebelion, a publication that supports the Cuban government. It was a mistake not to mention the source, as this information would be important for readers trying to evaluate the reliability of the claim.
Ombudsman criticizes Camino de Cruces development The opposition to a controversial housing development project in a forested part of the former Fort Clayton has picked up a notable supporter. National Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo) Juan Antonio Tejada has called the project, which would not only cut down a 100-year-old forest but affect one of the best preserved cobblestone remnants of the colonial era Las Cruces Trail, a proposed "ecocide." Tejada says that there are more appropriate places to build a housing project nearby. Meanwhile the project's promoter, Carlos Pasco, says he'll sue the government if he is not allowed to build at the location in question. Pasco's company has received a concession from the Interoceanic Regional Authority (ARI) and the approval of the National Environmental Authority (ANAM) for his environmental impact plan. However, environmentalists, historic preservationists and Clayton residents have been fighting the project with protests and in the courts, and the critics of the plan include prominent members of the PRD-Partido Popular ruling coalition, including Administrative Prosecutor Óscar Ceville, Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro) and Tejada.
1978 journalism laws repealed On May 16 the National Assembly voted unanimously to repeal two 1978 laws that regulated the practice of journalism in Panama, most notoriously by requiring journalists to be licensed and restricting licenses to graduates of the University of Panama's School of Social Communication or graduates of other programs acceptable to the faculty of that department, with a grandfather clause for those with 10 years' experience in the profession. Since the 1989 US invasion journalist licensing has been a dead letter, with the exception that the Pérez Balladares administration insisted that the editor of The Panama News comply with it in 1997, apparently believing that the qualification could not be met. Under protest the editor was able to show enough experience to meet the grandfather clause and thus became the last person to be registered under that dictatorial law. The repeal was opposed by faculty and students at the School of Social Communication and by the Sindicato de Periodistas, a corrupt pseudo-union whose main activities are a xenophobic campaign against foreign journalists and somewhat more successful efforts to prevent government press flacks from dealing with reporters who are not affiliated with their organization.
Ceville delays access to opinions Citing something akin to attorney-client privilege, Administrative Prosecutor Óscar Ceville has forbidden people in his office to release documents containing his legal opinions of many questions submitted to him for a period of 30 days after their issuance. The order has been criticized not only by news media whose access to information was thus restricted, but also by Ceville's predecessor Alma Montenegro de Fletcher, who called it a violation of the principles of transparency if not the 2000 Transparency Law itself.
Lima keeps his job but loses one of the perks Immigration director Ramón Lima, criticized by Minister of Government and Justice Héctor Alemán (his boss) for conflict of interest, has kept his job but lost one of its perquisites. Migracion has over several administrations gained a reputation for sordid corruption and its directors have tended to "mysteriously" become much wealthier while holding the post. In this case Lima's law firm, Lima y Asociados, was handling immigration cases and Alemán pointed out that this violates the Torrijos administration's ethics guidelines. After an extended trip to Asia during which he made himself unavailable for comment, Lima returned to Panama and announced that his law firm will no longer do immigration work.
Judge gets a year in prison for abusing authority Máximo Mojica, formerly a judge in Panama's Third Municipal Court, has been given a one-year prison sentence for abuse of authority. He was convicted for sitting on more than 100 cases and not keeping proper docket records, apparently as a means to shake down litigants for payoffs in order for them to have their cases processed, for taking cases that were out of his jurisdiction, and for irregularities in the enforcement of judgments.
Supreme Court secretary busted for heroin smuggling Marianela Sagel, the secretary for Supreme Court magistrate Jorge Federico Lee, was arrested at Tocumen Airport on May 14 with a kilo of heroin in her carry-on luggage as she was set to board a plane bound for the United States. In Panamanian drug cases there is legally no bail, and the burden of proof is shifted to the defendant --- although these draconian provisions are often enough varied when judges are bribed --- so the 41-year-old Sagel is in the women's prison in Tocumen awaiting trial.
Electoral Tribunal curbs Maco Rosas's Stalinoidal tendencies It's not his party and he can't purge if he wants to. So said the Electoral Tribunal in setting aside party boss Jesús "Maco" Rosas's purge of a list of members of the Nationalist Republican Liberal Movement (MOLIRENA), which was a junior partner in Mireya Moscoso's administration. Among those ordered reinstated to party membership were current legislator Marilyn Vallarino and former legislators Gisela Chung and Raymundo Hurtado Lay. Unless they can divide their opponents, the Rosas family appears to be set to lose control of MOLIRENA, which they had converted into their family business, doing a brisk trade in making teachers pay party dues to get good school assignments, making public TV assets disappear and so on. Before it became a racketeering organization MOLIRENA was a conservative business-oriented political party.
Mireyista pols convicted of election crimes Venancio Sobenis, the Arnulfista (now Panameñista) representante for the corregimiento of Boca del Monte in Chiriqui's San Lorenzo district, has been convicted along with his suplente Arsenio González for appropriating public funds not only for their campaign, but also before and after last year's elections. The provincial electoral judge removed the two politicians from office but the case has been appealed to the Electoral Tribunal so the sentence is stayed pending review.
Foundation seeks solution to polluted prison drinking water The Fundacion Apoyo para el Detenido, a group that works to better the lot of the nation’s prisoners, is offering a possible solution to the problem of fecal coliform contamination of the drinking water available to inmates at the La Joya and La Joyita penitentiaries in Tinajitas. According to El Panama America a Canadian company, Aqua Solution International, has at the foundation’s request submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Government and Justice for a system to treat the water at the institution. Whether the human rights of prisoners is high enough on the government’s spending priorities for that proposal or any other to be accepted remains to be seen.
High court upholds city landfill contract The Supreme Court has belatedly ruled that it was improper for former Comptroller General Alvin Weeden to withhold his approval for a contract between the Panama City municipal government and Termotécnica Proinpetrol SA for the construction of a catch basin for effluents running off of the Cerro Patacon landfill. The project is part of a multi-phased plan to turn the facility from an ordinary dump into a sanitary landfill, and Weeden’s rejection was part of the Moscoso administration’s policy of obstructing city projects in an attempt to make the case that Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro couldn’t get anything done and should be replaced. Instead Navarro was reelected in a landslide and the Mireyistas suffered an across-the-board humiliation in last year’s election that included their virtual extinction as a force to be considered in Panama City government. In the meantime, however, wastes from the dump have continued to leak out into the surrounding environment.
Poor water quality in some city neighborhoods The IDAAN water and sewer utility says it’s because of sediments getting into water lines in the course of repairs, but whatever the reason, people in San Felipe, El Chorrillo and Santa Ana have in recent days often received this cloudy liquid when they turned on their water taps. The utility recommends that residents boil or filter the water before drinking or cooking with it.
Alberto Vallarino wants to run for president again Banker Alberto Vallarino, the “third force” and third place candidate in the 1999 presidential elections, who was barred from seeking the Arnulfista Party nomination in 2004 by Mireya Moscoso despite overwhelming support from the party’s rank-and-file members, says he wants to run for president in 2009. Last year Vallarino supported Guillermo Endara, who ran on the Solidaridad ticket but is not leading the formation of a new party, Vanguardia Moral. Vallarino told La Prensa that his first task is to try to unify the fragmented opposition to the PRD-Partido Popular governing coalition.
Medical examiner suspended in orgy death cover-up Dr. Luis Benitez has been suspended from his job at the Institute of Legal Medicine for an allegedly unprofessional autopsy in the Vanessa Márquez case. Márquez, a 19-year-old prostitute and mother of a young child, was found dead at the foot of the Plaza Paitilla Inn, where she had been working at a sex and drugs orgy for several young men, most from prominent families. One of the men, Amael Acosta, allegedly tried to coordinate cover stories for what happened and is now a fugitive. Erick Bravo, the deputy director of the Judicial Technical Police (PTJ) has been removed from his job and is facing a criminal investigation for his alleged cooperation with Acosta in the alleged cover-up. The body was found with grass stuffed into the clothing and tire tracks on it, and Benitez held that the cause of death was a head injury. But colleagues reviewing the death photos and the autopsy records criticized Benitez's work and overruled his finding, calling the death the result of a fall from the hotel's 17th floor. Further investigations to clarify the discrepancies, and which might have determined in the event that there was a fall whether Márquez was dead or alive before she hit the ground and whether the death was a homicide, suicide or accident were made difficult by the institute's early release of the body for cremation. Through his lawyer, Benitez has denied any wrongdoing, as has Bravo. In this case only the madam who was the intermediary to hire Márquez's services remains incarcerated, although she is not suspected of causing the death.
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