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editorial

Torrijos protects convicted pedophile Ronald H. Kelly, then accuses others of disregarding the interests of children

How dare you, Martín?

Most of the nation's public school teachers walked off the job, theoretically over money but most of all because for political reasons the president decided to insult the established unions that represent most of the educators by refusing to deal with them and instead signing an agreement with a collection of pro-government paper organizations that don't really represent anybody. He did this to provoke a strike by the genuine teachers' unions, most of which oppose his flawed canal expansion plan. He figured that he might turn the momentum toward the "no" side around by creating a situation in which he could accuse his opponents of being irresponsible. Since the walkout he has gone around the country calling the "no" advocates things like "the forces of chaos" and accusing the striking teachers of not caring about Panama's children.

Meanwhile at The Panama News, we got an email the other day from a fellow journalist in Newfoundland, inquiring about the status of one of that province's most notorious criminals, who happens to live in Panama under the protection of the Torrijos administration.

Ronald H. Kelly --- the infamous Father Ron --- was a Catholic parish priest in Newfoundland with a penchant for sexual relations with young boys. Finally someone complained and he was arrested and convicted on 10 counts of having sexual relations with five children.

But the Catholic hierarchy in Canada protected Father Ron. They smoothed things over with the judge so that for a conviction that would get any other person a lifetime behind bars, Father Ron was given probation. They sent him to an alcohol dry-out program, then transferred him to another parish. Then they promoted him to become the chief financial officer of the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto.

More scandals about protected pervert priests made headlines in Canada until finally a high-profile official inquiry was begun and public hearings were held. The police officer who handled Father Ron's case testified that Kelly blamed the children with whom he had sexual relations for tempting him.

In the face of that public notoriety, Kelly renounced his priestly vows and used the connections he established with the rich and famous while handling the church's assets in Toronto to become a real estate tycoon. Not, of course, with his own money, but more than anything with hundreds of millions of dollars from the United Food and Commercial Workers union pension fund.

Now hundreds of millions of dollars from the workers' hard-earned pension fund have gone missing, having last been seen in Kelly's pockets. Retirees have seen their incomes reduced as a result. It's a major scandal that's playing itself out in Canada's newspapers, government and labor movement.

And Father Ron? He's living in Panama now. He comes and goes, because he has Caribbean resorts to oversee. He never gets hassled by this country's immigration authorities. You know that pretentious estate on the road to El Valle with the fake medieval battlement wall? That's one of his residences here.

Oh, and the business ties he has built between the Caribbean and Panama? The courts in the Bahamas have taken notice of those, in the context of a major banking scandal there. Father Ron receieved a multi-million-dollar fraudulent transfer from a Bahamian bank that was about to collapse, and deposited it in the Banco Atlantico on Panama City's Calle 50. That was at a time when Mireya Moscoso was trying to renege on this country's commitment under the Inter-American Anti-Corruption Convention to criminalize the laundering of the proceeds of a wide range of illegal activity, so it might be argued that at the time this did not amount to the crime of money laundering.

Martín Torrijos knows all about Ronald H. Kelly. The perverted ex-priest's criminal past and his presence here have been reported both in The Panama News and in the Spanish-language press. Police and prosecutors have been fully informed of the details of his criminal record. Local officials in the San Carlos district, where Father Ron is now one of the biggest landowners, have complained to the national government about their pedophile neighbor.

But you see, the attraction of foreign millionaires is the cornerstone of the Torrijos administration's "residential tourism" strategy. The president's Seguro Social "reforms" --- which unfortunately bore the Catholic Church's stamp of approval --- clearly demonstrate a preference for the transfer of workers' pension funds into the sticky fingers of millionaire speculators. So what does it matter if Father Ron, one of the foreign millionaires so fervently desired by the president and those around him, has this trifle on his record about 10 counts of sex with little boys?

Martín Torrijos's support for a foreign child molester living in our midst is absolutely repugnant. When a president who protects convicted pedophiles goes out campaigning and denounces his opponents for not caring about children, the voters have every right to become indignant about his hypocrisy.

How dare you, Martín?

Bear in mind...

The smaller the mind the greater the conceit.

Aesop

I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

Marie Curie

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

Mohandas K. Gandhi