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editorialBocas del Toro land questions again dominate The Panama News letters page Bocas article was controversial As per suggestion posted by you in message 17498 of the Yahoo Group Panama C_E_W, I humbly ask that you publish this brief letter. The purpose of this brief letter is to point out to your loyal readership that there has been significant questioning of the story “Another Bocas Trip” published in Vol. 11, No. 15 of The Panama News, and written by a Mr. Joel Inwood, in that very same Yahoo Group. Should anybody be interested, the messages were posted from August 7th to August 10th (which is the date when I’m writing this e-mail letter. It is possible that further messages were posted subsequently). Admittedly, a significant amount of questioning has been done by me, but in fairness, I am not the only reader to have questioned vast sections of Mr. Inwood’s story.
Juan Ramón Vallarino J. Editor’s note: Panama C_E_W is a freewheeling, and occasionally downright raunchy, email group on which all sorts of things are debated. You can get to it through Yahoo or by clicking on the button for it at the bottom of this page. In the discussion various critics questioned the article in question on a number of grounds, and the debate at times got heated and sarcastic. I don’t intend to replay that debate here, given that it is easy enough for people to go to Panama C_E_W and read the original thread. I do, however, wish to point out two things: first, The Panama News gave the Surgeons ample opportunity to state their case and even delayed the publication of the story when they led us to believe that they would have something to say through their lawyers; and second, it is of course true that the entire Bocas real estate scene was not covered, nor did the story include a search through such court records and public documents as the public is allowed to see with respect to the land dispute in question. The latter situation is primarily the product of a judgment about allocation of scarce resources and secondarily due to the knowledge that many of these records are either unavailable to the public or unreliable.
Bocas flap It seems that Bocas is beginning to give Panama a bad name because of the many land fraud deals going on. The world is just waking up to the fact that Panama is a lost paradise and soon the flood will engulf the whole country. Many believe that this is a good thing but the truth is, many Panamanians will soon be unable to compete with the amount of money foreigners are willing to pay for land. I am not against foreign jubilados coming to Panama but the government must sooner or later enforce the laws that the dummy corporations are sidestepping. If it is true that only a Panamanian can own beachfront property and land on an island, then that should be enforced. If this is not enforced now, it will be more difficult to do later down the road. Everybody knows why land is put in the dummy corporations. It is to hide ownership. Few dispute this fact. At some point in time, a government will have to step up to the plate and enforce these land laws to protect the Panamanians. Now would be better than later because the longer this goes on, the more foreigners will illegally own land. Trying to enforce this in the future will make Panama look very bad, much like Mexico did in the 1980s when they dealt with the same problem. It is unfair to the foreigners as well to be told that they can "hide" their land ownership behind a dummy corporation. Sooner or later this will be dealt with and they stand to lose their land. M. Ugarte Editor’s note: There is no legal prohibition against foreigners owning beachfront property. The law does restrict foreign ownership of islands and of land close to our Colombian and Costa Rican borders, and some lawyers --- a distinct minority of them --- believe that this affects the rights of foreigners to own property on islands that comprise less than the whole island. Then there are long-standing different local practices in Bocas del Toro, such as building over the water, and a history of corruption and mismanagement in that province’s courts and other public institutions, all of which which affect land tenure. The Torrijos administration has promised local residents that it will straighten out the various messes, and indicated that it does not intend to expel or otherwise oppress the foreigners who have in good faith bought property on the Bocas islands from people who had valid real estate interests to sell in the first place.
An exchange between a Tom McMurrain fan and the editor of The Panama News, with a comment from a colleague and erstwhile co-defendant… Remove my comment
Debbie Keipper debbiek@better-investing.org Can you please remove my comment from your editorial on Tom McMurrain? Thanks, Debbie Keipper
Debbie Keipper
Join us in Atlanta, GA for the -- Editor’s note: Ms. Keipper probably refers to the letter she wrote, which is published at http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_03/letters_01.html but may also be referring to a story that quoted her that’s located at http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_09/issue_09/business_01.html -- editor@thepanamanews.com wrote: No -- debbiek@better-investing.org wrote: Why not? I do not wish to be quoted for your publication. -- editor@thepanamanews.com wrote: You made that decision long ago, and played your part in a campaign of fraud against third persons and of political corruption and legal harassment against me. Just because it now looks bad now that your hoodlum buddy is playing crazy to get a lower sentence is not my concern. And if someone wants to do their due diligence and comes up with your name when checking out "better investing," then I have done my duty informing the public. Eric -- debbiek@better-investing.org wrote: Eric, the truth of the matter is that we made a naive investment decision. I did trust Tom, or we would not have invested. We made an investment mistake that we are paying for dearly at this time as we could have really used the money for a much wiser investment like a larger home for our newborn twin sons! I never proclaimed for Tom to be our buddy, but we believed in his vision. Unfortunately, he didn't have a plan to back up his ideas and we are equally glad to find he is behind bars. You have no idea how many times we've said, "if only..." to ourselves. And if only I could see him behind those bars... what I would like to say to him! But even you can understand that this was a personal investment, not at all work related. And this is crossing over from my personal life, to my work life. Never in a million years would I have thought that I could be under the microscope for making an embarrassingly naive investment decision. We feel duped and are suffering financially for our mistake. Please, I'm asking you, please remove my comment. I have nothing against you or your publication. I would just like to put this behind me. And if you have any advice about how we can get title of the property at the very least for which we paid for, I welcome your advice. Debbie PS: So Tom is playing “crazy”? Seriously? I would testify against him if you would show me door. -- debbiek@better-investing.org wrote: Eric, BTW --- as a proud new momma, I would be happy to send you photos of the new loves of my life if you promise they won't show up in print or online anywhere. -- Okke Ornstein, the editor’s co-defendant when McMurrain brought criminal defamation charges and editor/publisher of the Noriegaville website, added: Oh Jesus Christ, now this woman is playing ignorant after writing a letter to the editor and numerous emails to me saying that she didn't care about arrest warrants and that his soul was pure and his vision even purer and what a disgrace it was that these articles attacked somebody who was working so hard to build a better community and so on. Only now that her unconditional support for a criminal starts to haunt her in her investment advice career (sic) she changes her tune and wants her own past conveniently erased from the record. Where was Mrs. Keipper when goons were following me around in town and we were being prosecuted for criminal libel? Where was Mrs. Keipper when we received threats and extortion notes, i.e. when the people she invested in were making OUR lives miserable? Okke
One Muslim’s concern I speak for most of the Muslim world expressing deep concern having read an article on your website. The beloved Shaykh Abdalqirdar clearly has no links to the so-called al-Qaeda and suggesting that he has is either pure ignorance or a terrirble lie aimed at undermining true Islamic knowledge. He is one of the best critics of terrorism on the planet bacause he explains the deviation of Islam which has lead to these barbaric acts of suicide. He is just informing Muslims how to practice their faith in its entirety and informing Muslims about the people who conspire against Islam, he NEVER tells his people to use violence!!!!!!!! Muslims are not the only people today that are fundamentally opposed to capitalism. I'm a recent convert to Islam, so most of my friends are not Muslim but all of them are disgusted with capitalism and can clearly see that it only gives material benefits to asmall corner of the globe by devastating people’s lives and traditions in the rest or the world.” Surely Africa, South America and most of Asia is a clear sign of this.” I could go on more about capitalism and its interest banking system which enslaves the masses but I think I've said my bit, thank you kindly if you took the time to read my email. Sam Wills Editor’s note: Mr. Wills refers to a Willy Gutman column that ran back in 2002, which is available in our archives or by clicking on http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_08/issue_24/opinion_03.html
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