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Photo by Douglas Allen

Soon to be replaced by a golf course?

Because there were five Fridays in September, this issue appears after a three-week interval. It turns out that these were some very newsy weeks. Our cover story appears in two places, once as an outdoors section photo feature and once as a report on a San Carlos city council meeting that's our lead news story. It turns out that the Rio Teta dam project, about which The Panama News was the first Panamanian news medium to report, is only "phase one." The second phase of the project would entail the diversion of the Rio Mata Ahogado and the appropriation of its water by a private company. That's a problem, because the Mata Ahogado is the stream from which the town of San Carlos takes its drinking water.

We are beginning to see politicians take sides on this matter, and the stakes go way beyond San Carlos. What we have here is the cynical mislabeling of the privatization of public rivers for the purpose of watering a golf course, in order to avoid environmental laws. If this ploy succeeds here, then we are likely to see versions of it again and again across the length and breadth of Panama.

Our lead business story this time is also about a move by wealthy private interests, with government help, to appropriate property that doesn't belong to them. In this instance, however, it's a proposed land tenure law that was written by corporate lawyers to allow their clients, the developers of upscale tourist projects, to summarily evict families who have lived and farmed the lands they have occupied in some cases for several generations, paying zero compensation. Maybe or maybe not unintentionally, the proposal as originally passed by the Torrijos cabinet would dispossess a lot of the foreigners who have in good faith bought and improved right of possession land in Bocas del Toro. Intentionally or not, Martín has moved to denigrate yesteryear's buzzwords, "residential tourism." The slight but not particularly subtle change of phrases played prominently in the presentation of IPAT director Rubén Blades before the recent AMCHAM tourism forum.

I expect that by the end of the legislative process the threat to real estate ownership by the expats in Bocas will have dissipated, but that won't repair the damage to Panama's reputation as a retirement haven that naturally flows from what the Torrijos administration has tried to do. And I don't think that humble fishing villages coveted by some of this country's wealthiest families will fare any better.

We have also in recent days seen disturbances over the high price of gasoline, and the false diploma scandal at the University of Panama is plunging to amazing new depths.

Our coverage of such things is attracting more readers than ever before, but The Panama News is still a micro-enterprise that depends in part upon readers' contributions to survive. Ordinarily we ask for donations in March and September, but due to several factors we put off our September appeal for a month.

It has been a long time since The Panama News has paid a regular salary to anybody. I have been living in the office for more than four years now. The trusty old Mac finally died --- it was the hard drive this time --- and the old PC that I have as a backup is malfunctioning. And then some of the things that cut down the effectiveness of these appeals and the business side of The Panama News --- the facts that I can only deal with checks made out in my personal name and can't accept credit card payments --- need to be rectified but so far have not been.

SPECIAL UPDATE: We got a new computer, so now we have a good one and kind of a clunker as a backup, so could still use some help in that department. PLUS, a business alliance has been struck, which now allows us to take credit card payments via Pay Pal. To send money to the Panama News via a credit card go to Pay Pal --- you will have to sign up if you don't have a Pay Pal account --- and send your contributions to thepanamanews@panamaretire.net.

On the latter point, we need to start by getting an agent in the United States or Canada. Easier said than done, considering laws requiring the registration of foreign agents. Best to get a lawyer to do this. Contact me if you are interested in helping out in this way.

On the computer issue we have long been promised a new machine and some software, but the former has yet to happen and the latter is kind of pointless with the present clunky hardware. And really, we need two new (used?) computers now.

(Note that over the past year or so we have had a lot more photos on this website than was previously the case. This is the direct result of donations of photographic equipment by a few readers, whom I again thank from the bottom of my heart.)

We are getting more contributions of articles and photos than ever before, but The Panama News still needs better funding for travel expenses if we are to cover the entire country as we should. For example, it has been a very long time since we have been to the Azuero Peninsula, Kuna Yala or the high areas of Veraguas.

So if the continuation and the quality of this publication matters to you, make your check out to "Eric Jackson," with a notation that it's for The Panama News and send it to:

The Panama News
Apartado 0831-0927 Estafeta Paitilla
Panamá, República de Panamá

If you have a hand to lend in another form --- contributing labor or equipment --- send me an email or give me a phone call.

And in exchange, I will do my best not to disappoint you.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson
the editor

PS: The problems I had been having with my main email address --- editor@thepanamanews.com --- have been resolved. You can contact me there or via my other email address, e_l_jackson_malo@yahoo.com.