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opinion

Equality before the law?
by Raúl Leis R. --- raulleisr@hotmail.com

We all know the regrettable facts that had as their sum the death of Mr. Toribio Díaz and his wife Nicolasa, crashed into by the automobile of attorney Carlos Jones. I cannot avoid this as I know the Díaz family and, therefore, being closer to the facts of the deaths of their progenitors and the pain of their relatives, it augments my indignation about the attitude of the killer and his defenders, who now add to a long chain of cases of persons who seek shelter in impunity or flee from accepting their responsibilities after having committed acts against the lives of human beings.

These situations are what provoke the people's loss of faith in the rule of law and in the fundamental principle of equality before the law, which is the key point of departure for every national government that puts the general application of the rules before the unforeseeable arbitrariness of those who control and manage power.

But in our midst there emerge realities that correspond to phrases like Stanislaw J. Lec's "We are all equal before the law, but not before those in charge of applying it;" or, as Honoré de Balzac said, "The laws are like spider webs, through which the big flies pass freely and the leave  the little ones entangled;" which lead one to fear that tragedies like the one I have mentioned will add to the long list of Panamanian impunity.

The principle of equality before the law acquires true relevance as an element of a just order when it is placed within the ambit of democracy. The democratic society demands that every member of the social body be equal to the others with resepect to the possibility of access to the effective exercise of their fundamental rights. Let's not forget that the rule of law consists of the subjugation of state activity to the constitution and approved norms and the established procedures that they establish, which guarantee the responsible and controlled functioning of the institutions of power, so that the exercise of authority is composed of known dispositions that are not retroactive in prejudicial ways, and in the recognition of individual, collective, cultural and political rights.

But, as Eduardo García Máynez noted, "A formal declaration of equality becomes illusory when the subjects declared legally equal lack the means to exercise the rights linked to this declaration of equality." Thus the effective rule of the priciple of equality before the law within the framework of a democracy demands that the inequalities which make the exercise of rights associated with the satisfaction of citizens' basic need must be surmounted. Equality before the law in a democracy is also the best guarantee against all kinds of racial, religious or economic discrimination.

It's time to stop the rampant impunity in this country, which can be understood as "the inexistence, de facto or de jure, of criminal responsibility --- as well as civil, administrative or disciplinary liability --- on the part of the authors of human rights violations, because they escape any investigation aimed at their inculpation, arrest, trial and, in the event of being found guilty, condemnation to suffer appropriate penalties." Impunity is not just the absence of punishment for the commission of a crime or the impossibility of full realization of justice. It becomes a political culture that's produced even in democratic societies, and thus becomes a structural problem whose solution is much more complex as it's composed of multiple elements.

It's impossible to forget that 35 years after the disappearance of Father Héctor Gallego, all of those guilty of this horrendous crime that moved the nation have not paid.

The eyes and ears of this country are on the authorities charged with enforcing respect for our inalienable rights, and the just resolution of the matter of the Díaz couple and the the other cases that came before it is a species of test that will submit the national capacity to confront impunity and respect the principle of equality before the law to its proofs. Our solidarity goes out to the Díaz family, and to all those who have been victims of the arbitrary actions of those who think that they are above or beyond justice.

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Committee to Protect Journalists, Costa Rica should reform its archaic press laws
García, The fictional US drug report on Venezuela
Lerner, Defending against the political assault on homosexuals
Silié, The dilemma of return for countries that generate emigrants
Bernal, University of Panama political jive
Jackson, How giants are likely to be slain