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Panama News Briefs

photo by Eric Jackson

Women take offense at the legislature's choice of an ombudsman

2004 domestic violence case, offensive statements spark protests against García
by Eric Jackson

On March 23, with his wife seated at his side and often assuming postures of prayer, attorney Liborio García heard 48 of 78 deputies in the National Assembly vote to make him the new Defensor del Pueblo, or national ombudsman.

The legislators had gone through a long process of hearings, in which more than 80 aspirants for the post had been reviewed for their legal eligibility for the post (with a few eliminated for lack thereof) and been given a chance to state their views on the job they would like to do. The legislative process, however, involved few questions from deputies and hardly any investigation of the candidates' backgrounds.  By and large it was a process of discovering the preferences of the dominant PRD caucus and seeing which of those candidates who had support from those legislators could also win some votes from opposition deputies. The law that created the job talked about selecting somebody with a good reputation for moral rectitude and public service, but it seems that nobody in the legislature actually worked to check out these factors.

Liborio García does have a record in the community. He serves on the Honor Tribunal of the Colegio de Abogados, the bar association committee in charge of hearing complaints and recommending disciplinary action against unethical lawyers. He's a deacon in the El Carmen Catholic church. He served on the nation's Board of Censors until that body was abolished. He has been active in Panama's theater scene, acting in both in Spanish and English productions and serving on the board of directors of the Theatre Guild of Ancon.

But Neftalí Jaén, a legislative aide and one of García's rivals for the appointment, complained of another kind of record in the community. In 2004 a marital row between Liborio García and his wife Hilda Lorena Moreno ended up before the corregidora in Bella Vista. The matter did not result in any criminal conviction or penalty for García, who denied that he had battered his wife. She also denies that he did so, but there are some discrepancies between that and what is alleged her 2004 complaint in the file at the corregiduria.

With the allegation out there, the new ombudsman was peppered with questions from reporters about the incident. In one televised interview, García said that "it's a private matter between my wife and myself, and we've resolved it."

Other critics were put off by García's public displays of religion, and some of them cited Panama's legal prohibition against priests and ministers serving in public posts other than those dealing with education or social services. It seems, however, that the weight of legal opinion is that these strictures do not extend to church deacons.

The questions and criticisms about the domestic violence issue kept coming, particularly from women. Talking to reporters on the occasion of a visit with the outgoing ombudsman, Juan A. Tejada, García criticized the role of night court judges and and corregidors in domestic violence cases, complaining of bias against men, claiming a degree of expertise in domestic violence cases because he had served as a marriage counselor for the church and reiterating his position that the case before the corregidora was "a private matter."

There ensued a firestorm of criticism, most of all from women's groups and including prominent female members of the PRD and Partido Popular and several legislators. There were demands that the National Assembly rescind the appointment, some based on the presumption that García is in fact a wife beater, but increasingly because his statements suggested that he doesn't take domestic violence to be a serious human rights concern.

A petition from leaders of 50 women's organization argued that García "lacks experience, professional competence and moral solvency in the field of human rights," and pickets began to be seen outside the legislature. Meanwhile Neftalí Jaén, having opposed the PRD's choice of an ombudsman a bit too strenuously, was forced to resign from his job as a legislative aide. Cartoonists depicted García as a cave man and a brute. García promised to create a committee of women to advise him on women's rights issues.

The impasse became more acute when First Lady Vivian de Torrijos weighed in against García, criticizing his position that the abuse allegation was a private matter. "Everyone should become involved in domestic violence between husband and wife," the first lady opined to the daily newspapers and television stations. She said that García owed the public an explanation of the 2004 incident and a clarification of his position on domestic violence issues.

A number of male politicians, including in the ruling PRD-Partido Popular coalition, began to take notice of the alienation expressed by the women in their political parties and in their personal lifes. Rogelio Paredes, the PRD deputy from Arraijan who presides over the legislature's Human Rights Committee, said that García ought to step aside.

However, on April 3 Liborio García was sworn in as the new ombudsman as scheduled. Dozens of protesters, most of them female, crowded the National Assembly's galleries. There was some pushing and shoving with legislative security guards, and protesters jeered as García took his oath.

The questions and criticisms will not go away anytime soon, but Liborio García, who asked the protesters for a chance to show his sense of justice on the job, took up his duties in the $7,000 per month job. He started by a series of visits to prisons, in which he welcomed the inmates to share their complaints, concerns and suggestions with him.