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Incredible ---
but true! Given that the nation's Ombudsman has opined that "the University of Panama offended due process of law by delaring Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal "non grata," as among the sanctions established in Article 121 of the University of Panama Statute there is no "non grata" condition established as a disciplinary sanction." Moreover, he established "no legal foundation exists in the rules that guide the University of Panama to sustain such a declaration" and that "it's a breach of the fundamental right contemlated in Article 32 of the national Constitution," we haven't had to wait for the reactions of the university's rector and his acolytes. In effect, while on the one hand interposing more than a half-dozen charges of criminal defamation against me, to the point that one of his most loyal stable boys (garbed as a professor and not for his true office and function published books lampooning the Ombudsman. On the other hand, one of his doormen sent letters left and right attempting to denigrate my dignity and, this past January 26, while he was preparing to be re-elected to his job for another five years, the university rector sent Note 106, a missive that speaks for itself, which I attach as follows: "Mister Ombudsman: "Taking notice of your Official Act Number 2087e-05, about the recommendation to "avoid the approval of resolutions that have no legal basis and that offend the fundamental rights of any member of the university community," contained in Resolution Number 2087d-05 of December 14, 2005, of the national Ombudsman's office. "In the resolving part of the cited Resolution, it indicates 'that it has been shown that there's a breach of a fundamental right contemplated in Article 32 of the national Constitution.' "The constitutional disposition mentions consecrates due process, which consists of the compliance with the following propositions: the right to be judged in conformance with legal procedures (to give the interested parties the right to a trial or to be heard, the right to propose and make proofs, the right to plead and the right to have recourse) and the right to not be tried more than one time for the sam penal, police, disciplinary or administrative cause. "In this sense, the guarantee of due process applied to penal, police, disciplinary or administrative procedures, such that to determine that the University General Council didn't guarantee due process to Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal, he must have been subjected to a disciplinary process before said organ of university government. "The General University Council at no time opened a disciplinary or administrative process against Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal, so that Resolution Number 1-05-SGP exceeds your jurisdiction as its is neither of a disciplinary nor administrative character, but a public manifestation fo the maximum organ of governance of the University of Panama, in repudiation of the conduct of the aforementioned Dr. Bernal, which consists of usling "language infested with improprieties, insults and expressions" that attack the honor and dignity of the authorities and members of the university family, for which he was declared non grata, which is in the language of diplomacy, that it wants to say not accepted. "Taking into account what I have expounded above, Resolution Number 1-05-SGP, emitted by the University General Council, does not infringe upon university legislation, nor does it violate the human rights of Dr. Miguel Antonio Bernal. Attentively, (Signed) Gustavo García de Paredes, Rector" The rector insists in his note to the Ombudsman, which speaks for itself, that said act didn't violate my fundamental rights and guarantees. But it does, especially the freedom of expression and belief, and it's also a decision that affects my honor and personal reputation. Moreover, the council violated due process by a moral sanction that was imposed on the basis of unproven allegations, exceeding its powers and applying sanctions specified in neither the law nor in the University Statute, and violating my right to present a defense. The inexcusable ignorance that the rector flaunts with regard to the Constitution of the Republic of Panama, the Inter-American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Treaty on Civil and Political Rights, the Inter-American Human Rights Convention, Law 24 of July 14 of 2005 (the University of Panama Organic Law), the University of Panama Statute, and of the Professional Ethical Regulations of University of Panama Professors is revealing, regrettable and disturbing. Revealing of little fondness for the law, disturbing in its disposition to violate "the fundamental rights of whatever mameber of the university community" and disturbing because it makes a show of the arrogance of power, thanks to a presidential order of "don't bring up Gustavo with me because I need him," as President Martín Torrijos said to all the highest state officials, Incredible, but true, the hands in which the university and the country find themselves.
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