Most ads are interactive -- click on them to visit the folks who make The Panama News possible

news

Be well informed --- try these online news and talk radio alternatives:

Latin America's Great Liberator, who led northern South America to independence and freed the slaves, but died young and broken-hearted, thinking that all his accomplishments were as if he had "plowed the sea."

To mark an important Bolivarian anniversary

Hugo Chávez coming to Panama on June 22

by Eric Jackson

On June 22, 1826, The Great Liberator Simón Bolívar convened delegates from Gran Colombia (modern-day Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Panama), Mexico, the United Provinces of Central America and Peru to a conference in Panama City to discuss a political confederation of those parts of Latin America recently liberated from Spain. Argentina, Bolivia and Chile turned down their invitations, while Uruguay was still preoccupied with its independence struggle and what are now the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Puerto Rico would remain under Spanish rule for decades to come.

At the so-called Congreso Anfictionico and in the regional discussion following upon it the local oligarchs who had supported Bolívar when he was racking up a string of victories against Spain but opposed him before and after that time raised their objections to the liberator's project, and eventually Latin America broke up into its present configuration. However, the dream never died and to this day there are many voices for Latin American unity.

Both the Panamanian government and a constellation of leftist groups who consider themselves Bolivarians plan to commemorate the anniversary of Bolívar's congress, which is also the centennial of the creation of Panama's legislature. Chávez was invited by both groups to come to Panama for the occasion and has accepted. He will attend a series of governmental and non-governmental events, including a ceremony at the Plaza Bolivar in the Casco Viejo and a meeting of the Bolivarian Peoples' Congress at ATLAPA. He will also attend ceremonies at the National Assembly's Palacio Justo Arosemena and other official functions while he is here.

Although relations between Venezuela and Panama were tense when Mireya Moscoso was president, they have warmed considerably since Martín Torrijos took office in September of 2004. Most Panamanians do not embrace Chávez's leftist brand of politics, but neither do they see him as the sort of demon that his enemies portray him to be. To the extent that the Venezuelan president has become the symbol of Latin American countries' sovereignty in the face of US pressures, he has become a sort of folk hero to many Panamanians, including some who are not particularly leftist.

Also in this section:
Legislative crunch time
Chávez coming here to celebrate Bolívar's attempt to unify Latin America
Spanish report blames FARC for the Colastras' abduction
Penal Code reform recommendations include new anti-press provisions
Panama News Briefs