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Canal vote, Cuba changes head long list of reader concerns

Against postponing the referendum

I don't agree with the proposal that is understood to be the suspension or postponement of the referendum on the canal project for some days, weeks or months. This proposal would carry with it grave difficulties and would be counterproductive. I oppose the suspension of the referendum, among other things, for the following reasons:

1. It would radicalize the contending positions more than they are now, and would divide Panamanians even more on a subject about which they should try to come to a national consensus, which was Panama's international commitment in the 1993 Canal Alternatives Study, in which it is written that "the Government of Panama will be required to establish and define clear policies and build a National Consensus among the social institutions and people in support of the matter of construction the alternative before the phase of its final design...."

2. The debate for more than the set time would tend to bore and annoy citizens to the point of nausea, which would create an immense abstentionism that in the end would be justifiable to ourselves or to others, nor to the "yes" or "no" supporters.

3. It was the idea of the president of a party who's acting with naiveté and awkwardness, besides which we every day see more confirmations of a "VAMA" (or as some say "JUMA") pact. This president has gotten by on the pretext of a "full democratization" within his party. However, more than 90 percent of its members are for the "no." He supports the "yes" and gives as his justification that "I am for the 'yes' because I'm a businessman," when the canal mustn't be a matter of class and much less should provoke a class struggle. He's betraying his party and its members and the very idea that there should be internal party democracy.

"To serve to the point of sacrifice,"

Guillermo Endara Galimany

former president of Panama

Vanguardia Moral de la Patria

Vallarino's new spin: Torrijos and Alemán Zubieta

have nothing to do with the ballot proposal

There are times when accusers do not deserve a reply. Even when the legitimacy of a statement is openly doubtful or biased and the accuser is so emotionally against our country for reasons unknown.

However, as the writer admits, “this matter (the expansion of the Panama Canal) is too important to Panama’s future to be decided by simplistic slogans or blind partisan or social loyalties?” If the writer is leaning toward the NO side does that give him a right to call things by any name that suits his purpose to denigrate Panama, such as insisting on calling the extension programs of the Canal “the Torrijos-Alemán Zubieta Plan,” which is a total misnomer?

Actually the expansion program has nothing to do with Torrijos. It is solely and completely a program of the ACP which has taken place during at least three different Boards of Directors of the Panama Canal and just happens to have come to fruition during the Presidency of Torrijos, which does not make it his plan. Furthermore, by the time the program is completed there will surely be at least one or even two presidential elections in Panama and probably the PRD will not be the so called beneficiary party just as it was not the governing party when the Canal was turned over to Panama.

Let us not forget the historical fact that when Torrijos’ father signed the treaties with President Carter in 1977, little could have he suspected that on December 1999 the person who would formally receive the Canal would be the wife of his arch rival Arnulfo Arias, whom he had overthrown in 1968 in a military Coup. Just as it happened with Mireya Moscoso it can happen with any other future President with whom Torrijos’ son has no links. It is totally inappropriate, to say the least, to call this plan Torrijos- Alemán Zubieta. Torrijos actually was not ever involved in its development. His role has been strictly to perform his constitutional obligation to approve or disapprove the plan presented by the authority of the Canal.

It is also a great fallacy and totally inappropriate to the expansion plan of the Panama Canal to relate it in any way with the transaction between Banistmo and HSBC. This is really going out on a limb to find the “fifth foot of the cat,” as we say in Panama. A program that has been in the works for at least half a decade can in no way be connected and fairly judged by attaching it to a business transaction that took place in a few months of this year and had absolutely nothing to do with the Panama Canal Expansion program.

If you really want to be fair and present all sides of the issue you should start by using accurate information and stick to related matters and not try, with the use of sarcastic name calling, to identify Panama as a country incapable of running the Canal, a question that we have already unequivocally answered with a resounding SI, yes we can.

If you have a personal ax to grind against Panama, come out truthfully and say so, but don’t pretend to be impartial and interested in presenting both sides just do it.

It is not enough to say you are “learning toward the no” and then basing your total support for that position by using tactics such as calling the program a Torrijos-Alemán Zubieta plan, which it simply is not, and introducing a unrelated banking operation as argument against the Expansion program. It is in fact a program worked out by a team of experts of the Canal and outside of the Canal; a team that includes Panamanians and the world community and is a helluva good plan.

J. J. Vallarino Jr.

Editor's note: First, I am in good standing with the feline community. Second, I was born in Colon, and although it's true that I have not been inbred like a show dog with all of the lineages related to Pedrarias the Cruel, I have one vote in the referendum just like Mr. Vallarino. Third, I know a number of people who work for the Panama Canal Authority, and they tell me that not only did they not write the proposal to be voted upon on October 22, with one exception they were not even consulted. But wasn't it Martín Torrijos and wasn't it Alberto Alemán Zubieta whom we saw on the stage at ATLAPA on April 14, presenting us with their plan? Fourth, it's hard to be very impressed when the "team of experts" who did the cost estimate for the Third Locks turns out to be none other than Parsons Brinckerhoff, the company behind Boston's scandalous "Big Dig" catastrophe. Finally, what sort of hubris is it that a small group of wealthy individuals can engineer a political heist of more than $400 million from the national treasury while at the same time campaigning for a multi-billion-dollar project yet not expect the general public to draw certain connections? 

Jackson needs haircut, shave, and a clean pair of pants

I recently was told of your website, "The Panama News" with the possibility of becoming a regular reader of your on-line paper. After reading your latest edition, I saw what a mistake I had made. I base this statement on your rubbish opinion column on the "Banistmo Scandal."

Had I known the liberal leaning of your on-line balderdash, I would have paid money to avoid being exposed to such trash as is written on this website.

A good senior editor would sit Jackson down and explain that his job is to inform his readers --- not to force them to endure his filthy rhetoric.

Readers do not need his opinion, attitude, ego or smear tactics. He should be advised, "from this day forward, either consider this an ultimatum or submit your resignation immediately." Unfortunately, Jackson is the sole-owner of this silly and scandalous website, therefore he can do as he sees fit.

In closing, I'll address my opinion and attitude to Mr. Jackson. Eric Jackson, you come across to me as evil, arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, insolent and unhappy. Your photo looks like that of a man who just soiled his underwear and is actually ashamed of what he does for a living. In fact, you don't have what it takes to be a pimple on a good man's butt.

Let me give you some suggestions. Get a haircut. Shave your lip area. Smile. Look like someone who is proud to have a job in a country that will put up with your stupid antics. Any other country would haul your sorry butt to the nearest trash heap and leave you there.

Brian Smith 

Vallarino tries to justify the Banistmo Law

Carlos Vallarino, the Minister of Economy and Finance, continues to lie. On August 21, faced with the complaints of FRENADESO and the educators, he paid for ads in all of the daily newspapers which attempted to justify the Banistmo Law, the biggest ever swindle committed against the national treasury.

In short he gave his version of how the businessmen avoided paying, how they reduced from 30 percent to 5 percent the taxes they should have paid to the state on the sale of their bank shares. And thus Vallarino, Lewis Galindo, Lewis Navarro, Alemán Healy, Alemán Zubieta et al were left with more than $400 million that should have been paid into the national treasury after the sale of Banistmo to HSBC.

According to Vallarino himself, to comply with the salary demands of the striking teachers would represent some $110 million per year and this is "impossible."

But thanks to a law presented by himself to the corrupt National Assembly and approved as a "notorious emergency" in just two days, these oligarchic families were exonerated for hundreds of millions of dollars, a sum that could have served to pay salary increases for the more than 35,000 teachers for all of the rest of Martín Torrijos's term in office and still have money left over to attend to other needs that the people have.

These are the special interests behind the PRD-ACP canal expansion project. It's the same oligarchic group that's drooling over this noxious project that will run up the country's debt and prevent the canal's profits from being used to attend to our immense social debt.

Why are "Transparency International" and other squeaky clean organizations of the self-proclaimed "civil society" guarding their silence in the face of this noted case? Why do the big news corporations like La Prensa and MEDCOM remain quiet? Why don't Bobby Eisenmann, APEDE, CONEP, the Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations say anything about this evident act of corruption? How can they explain how the president of Banistmo, Samuel Lewis Galindo, was chosen by APEDE as its "executive of the year?"

It's because the "yes" campaign and the special interests are united in this effort. It's because they are interested in getting some of the millions of dollars that belong to the people that are being poured into propaganda in favor of the "yes" side.

Thus they denigrate the Panamanian teachers, the Social Security Fund workers and all those who consider the project that would mortgage the Panama Canal to be a threat.

On the day that Vallarino's ad appeared, hundreds of striking teachers picketed in front of the Ministry of Economy and Finance to denounce this gigantic swindle and the attacks of this minister's "shock troops" who think they're above the rest of Panamanians; and also against the Norieguista Benjamín Colamarco, now part of the Torrijos cabinet, who obliged public employees to celebrate his birthday with government resources, in Ministry of Public Works facilities, at party in which high officials participated, among them Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro, a Banistmo shareholder and nephew of Samuel Lewis Galindo.

For these reasons the "no" campaign is sweeping across the nation. The people demand exemplary punishment for these white collar criminals.

No more deceptions.

No more swindles.

No more corruption.

Vote NO.

The National Front to Defend Economic and Social Rights (FRENADESO) 

Look where Torrijos is going

It has come to pass that Torrijos is now "personally" handing out $35 checks all over the country, buying "yes" votes. He has taken the funding away from the Patronato de Nutricion's Self Sustaining Farms program which had proven to be functional, some of which still work exceptionally well with the support of sponsor businesses, an exceptional program that above all "taught the farmers and their families how to fish rather than gave them fish." Hundreds and thousands of families were a part of this.

It's unacceptable that while entrepreneurs and buyers from all parts of the world have to wait for four hours on the Boyd - Roosevelt Highway to get to the Free Zone (as happened to me the other day) due to road blockages caused by any bum and nobody does anything because anarchy rules in the streets, the president, as if nothing has happened, goes around like "The First Husband of the Republic" handing out little checks to the women in San Blas --- or wherever he goes --- is oblivious to the many problems we have in this country.

This is what corruption is --- buying votes and playing politics with the people's money. "Zero corruption, indeed!"

Leticia F. de Arias

ACP abuses

Another abuse against the Panama Canal Authority employees by this state institution is underway in the Marine Division (linehandlers, launches, tugs, dredges), in which if a worker accumulates six medical incapacities in one year or has any other absence for any other reason the person is given a so-called "carta de instruccion" (which is better known as being put on the blacklist) in which the worker has no rights to anything, especially not a promotion. There are colleagues who have worked for the canal for years and in all that time have had no sort of trouble on the job but for the fact of six absences have been put on the list, which last year was denoted by an "N" on their record and today results in a note saying they can't miss work for 90 days.

These notes are being given to the workers at Miraflores Locks and we want to say that we are not for a person having a lot of absences but these cases have to be evaluated individually. This ACP policy can be used and we have no doubt that it is being used to persecute workers who don't agree with the politics of certain supervisors.

We have to add that this policy about six absences only per year is applied only to the mentioned division and not the other divisions and this conflicts with the constitutional precept that there are to be no immunities or privileges. We make this complaint public so that the nation will know that in the ACP it's a crime to get sick.

names withheld

Panama

Editor's note: In addition to this email The Panama News received a copy of a memo sent out to various ACP employees telling them that they had to register all of their off-the-job activities with the management and get approval for these things, pursuant to an old employee policy that was designed to control moonlighting and conflicts of interest but with no mention in this particular memo about any sort of outside employment. In that case, too, the person who sent it believed that it was an attempt to intimidate ACP workers from taking part in the activities of one of the "no" groups in the canal expansion referendum campaign. For months now we have been told by several ACP employees that the word has been spread that anyone who expects to have a future in that governmental organization must actively campaign for the "yes" side.

The referendum

I am a Canadian admirer of your paper and your editorials. (I own a piece of property in Santa Catalina.)

Concerning the Panama Canal referendum, I would like to suggest that perhaps you can forward, in Spanish, a new and seemingly highly effective argument against the proposed Canal to the appropriate 'No' people (which I would assume has not been previously considered in the referendum debate).

It is this: due to global warming, various scientists have projected that Canada's Northwest Passage will be open for summertime shipping as early as 2015. It has been determined as a certainty, that it would be open by 2080-2090. This means that most international shipping will have 7,000 miles cut off their route compared to using the Panama Canal. It is easily foreseeable that by the time the newly expanded Panama Canal has been completed, it will become almost irrelevant. With each passing year, the window of usage increases, until eventually the Northwest Passage will be used all year around (especially with technological strategies employed to keep the passage open during the winter months).

Please visit http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a2af425d-74ca-4f49-963b-9795fed6d754&k=8211 for more specific information about this development.

Also, even though it may seem unrelated to the Panama Canal expansion issue, there is a recent book of immense importance that I would like to recommend to you: "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins. It details how Perkins has worked on behalf of the United States to cheat Third World countries, make them indebted to the US and therefore be at their bidding. Of course, there is considerable mention of Panama. The book contends that Jaime Roldos and Omar Torrijos, both previously presidents of Ecuador and Panama respectively, were assassinated because they refused to deliver their countries to the primarily-US fraternity of corporate, government and banking heads whose goal is global empire. Now we see the effects of this US-based cabal on impoverished oil-rich Ecuador and the economic, environmental and social devastation that is now being played out there. It is my contention that the same cabal has, ironically, brought, figuratively and literally, Omar's son into their fold so that Panama will be forever indebted to the US and supply US engineering and construction firms with billions of dollars worth of Canal contracts.

Please let me know what you think.

Richard Krieger

Editor's note: I am reading Perkins's book. I doubt that Omar Torrijos was assassinated, especially in the way that the various rumors I have heard over the years would have it, namely that there was a bomb aboard his plane. Bombings are easy to identify, there were multiple investigations of the crash and it would be hard to maintain a cover-up involving so many people for so many years.

On the other hand, General Torrijos was known to make reckless decisions about flying around Panama in a small plane during stormy weather.

The official story of his death, supported by eyewitnesses and physical evidence, is that he tried to fly into Coclesito in a heavy rain, the pilot had to abort the first attempt to land, and when pulling up to come around and try again the plane's wing clipped the top of a tree, causing the accident.

If some clever assassin with knowledge of General Torrijos's personality had access to the plane's engine, it might theoretically have been possible to tinker with it so that power would be reduced by a fraction in certain situations, making it probable that the general's habits would become fatal but unlikely that the sabotage would be identifiable as such. However, there has never been any evidence of this presented to the public.

I don't believe very much in far-reaching cabals or conspiracy theories, although if one wants to take the concept of conspiracy in a certain sense then every activity involving more than one person is some sort of conspiracy. What I do believe is that a certain class of people promotes economic globalization according to terms that benefit only a small segment of the world's population and that President Torrijos has bought it, to the detriment of most Panamanians.

The world should step in to promote democracy in Cuba

World influence in the transition Cuba will face when Fidel Castro’s life and rule come to an end, should be decidedly geared towards the implementation of a new democracy.

Cuba’s present communistic government falsely presents itself as the authentic spokesman for the aspirations of the people, and claims to be able, though by recourse to violent means, to bring about the radical changes which will put an end to the oppression and misery of people.

Marxist Communism is characterized by the "class struggle" which implies that society is founded on violence. Within this perspective, any reference to ethical requirements calling for courageous and radical institutional and structural reforms makes no sense. In this system, every affirmation of faith or of theology is subordinated to a political criterion, which in turn depends on the class struggle, the driving force of history.

Participation in the class struggle is presented as a requirement of charity itself. The desire to love everyone here and now, despite his class, and to go out to meet him with the non-violent means of dialogue and persuasion, is denounced as counterproductive and opposed to love.

With the anticipated changing of the guard in Cuba, let us hope a new wave of freedom from the tyranny of communism is on the horizon.

Paul Kokoski

Hamilton, Ontario

Canada

Cuban refugees IMPORTANT

HI, CAN YOU PLEASE GIVE ME THE NUMBER TO RADIO MARTI??!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH GET BACK AT ME ASAP PLEASE!!

Brian Leary

Editor's note: C'mon, do your own simple  Google search!

Looking beyond Fidel Castro's time (1)

KUDOS, Eric!

AurorA

Looking beyond Fidel Castro's time (2)

"George W. Bush wants to replace the Castro regime with a return to rule by a wealthy oligarchy, most probably through a repressive right-wing dictatorship masked by the thinnest of 'democratic' veneers."

There is no basis for this statement in your editorial. Perhaps Panama is the best defense of bogus US Imperialist claims. Regarding Miami dancing in the street, those were Cubans in Little Havana, not Brickell Ave. They will be dancing in Havana too (as soon as its safe) by the way. About those doctors: hardly charity, they were and are still bartered for Venezuelan oil.

And Angola it was for nothing more than diamonds and oil. Castro never sent troops unless commodities were on the table.

Castro's legacy is simply a selfish dictatorship that replaced a selfish dictatorship.

TK

Looking beyond Fidel Castro's time (3)

Your editorial criticizes the Cuban-American National Foundation for advocating a transitional military - civilian junta, but fails to mention that through Raúl Castro the Cuban army already runs the government in Havana. A coup by patriotic younger soldiers is one sensible way for the failed Castro dictatorship to end so that there can be free elections.

Mario

Tracking family history

My mother: Agatha Theodora Francis and my Father James William Cooper were married in St. Luke's Church on 18th day of June 1916. I believe Harry Roberts Carson was the Chaplain and that the license number was 2403.

I also believe that my brother (Lawrence (Laurence) Martin Cooper --- now deceased) who was born on October 25, 1920, in Chorrillo, Panama, and lived at Number 40, 23 W Street, was only about four years old when my sister died in the hospital from 'strep' throat. Lawrence (Laurence) register number was 24478/1918.

My dad was from Montserrat and 30 years old. My mom was 29 and her birthplace was Barbados. My brother Laurence (Lawrence) was born alive at 4:30 p.m.

The nurse midwife was Rhoda Bennett and the address Number 43 W. 23 St.

The Certificate of Birth was filed October 28, 1920, and the (District Physician, Health Officer, or Superintendent) health officer Henry Goldthwaite.

 I do not know my sister's name, birth date, even (she may have been born in 1918 to my parents). I believe she was buried at St. Luke's cemetery after her death at St. Luke's Hospital (I believe). My parents are deceased. Laurence (Lawrence) Martin Cooper is deceased.

My family promised to take me Panama, but I never made it there. It is only my brother Vernon Merton Cooper and myself alive at this time. I would like to receive my sister's birth certificate, her death certificate, and document of where she is buried, and whether or not she has a headstone.

Is this possible?

My name is Edith Theodora Cooper Lawrence (member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Northeast Washington, District of Columbia, in the United States of America).

My address: 61 Randolph Place Northwest, Washington, DC 20001-1123.

My birth date: 17 July 1932.

My brother Vernon Merton Cooper who was born 9 November 1916 (presently in a nursing home here in Washington, DC) has Alzheimer's and has had six small strokes. He does not remember our sister's name, birth year, or birth date, where she died or any particulars about her.

I know that all three of my siblings were baptized at St. Luke's Church in Ancon, Canal Zone.

Can anyone help me to obtain documents about my sister? I would like her place of burial (grave site/grave number), comment on her head stone, and a picture of her grave, death certificate, her birth certificate. I do not believe that my parents would have left her in an unmarked grave or under a stone without her name, etc.

Can anyone help me?

Edith Theodora Cooper Lawrence

(202) 265-8605

Editor's note: St. Luke's Cathedral still exists in Ancon, and may have something in their church records. I never heard that they had either a hospital or a cemetery, but that doesn't mean that such institutions never existed. The folks at St. Luke's, phone (507) 262-1280, would likely have records about these things. West Indian canal workers and their dependents who died on the Pacific side of the old Canal Zone were usually buried in a segregated part of the graveyard at Corozal, but there were some earlier "Silver Roll" cemeteries, some of which were abandoned to the jungle. With the reversion of the Canal Zone to Panama, the Panama City municipal government took over the West Indian section of the Corozal Cemetery and has been following a policy of digging up the graves of people whose families are not paying the city to maintain them. To check about whether someone is buried at the municipal section of the Corozal Cemetery, call (507) 317-9026 but do not be surprised if their records are so chaotic that they can't give you a proper answer. The American section of the cemetery was transferred to a US military organization so the remains of most of the Americans who were buried there will not be disturbed --- but many of the West Indian families later went on to become Americans, and there were Americans who were buried alongside their West Indian families outside of the American section. The Canal Zone birth and death records are in the United States, while the records of births in the Republic of Panama are kept by the Tribunal Electoral. As in the United States, in Panama it's the Mormons who, for theological reasons, privately maintain the most complete birth and death records for everybody, going back to colonial times. The church always appreciates a contribution for their help in researching family histories, but they will assist both people who share their faith and those who don't in these endeavors.

Coyotes or unethical recruiters at work in Chiriqui?

There is a recruiting drive here in Chiriqui and probably throughout Panama for construction laborers to go to New Orleans to work on the reconstruction of the city. Promises of up to $50 an hour for electricians, plumbers and other skilled labor. The workers will be issued visas, have a place to live, meals, etc. Sounded wonderful to our Panamanian friends and they are signing up by the hundreds to "make their fortune."

Those of us who have lived in the USA see this as a scam and a little research on the Internet confirmed that other latinos from Mexico, Central and South America are being treated very badly --- working 12-hour days with one meal a day --- sometimes of spoiled food, living in squalid conditions, and then not getting paid for their work.

See http://www.splcenter.org/legal/news/article.jsp?aid=11.

The above link gives the stories of a few latinos. One of our group members is having the whole thing translated to Spanish, and is printing 1000 copies for distribution here in Chiriqui.

Other people have reported that the scam is not restricted to people from other countries. Laborers have been going to New Orleans from all over the United States and being "ripped off" by the contractors. They are hired for $8 - $10 an hour and then when they try to collect their pay, they are told that they have to wait until the insurance company pays the contractor and that day never comes or the contractor disappears.

These are poor people with no food and no money to go elsewhere.

We are very concerned that our Panamanian friends will meet the same fate. No pay, stranded with no way to return.

I just talked to a friend in the Florida Keys and she told me they were having trouble getting laborers to do repair work that was sustained last year during one of the hurricanes. I told her about the rock hangers that had signed up in Volcan to go to New Orleans for work.

She was very aware of the situation and told me a major contractor had done the same thing only these workers were from Honduras and Mexico. The only problem, they forgot to pay them, the contractor kept them on the hook by feeding/housing them, promising to pay when the insurance company paid him. Guess what? The contractor pulled out, stranding the workers with no food, housing or PAY. They found a lawyer to take the case on contingency, but my guess is that by the time it snakes through the courts, the visas of the worker will be expired. They will be stuck in the US as illegals with no way to return to Hondo/Mex.

The point is, if you know any of these people that signed up to work in the States, tell them that it might not go as the recruiter is telling them. The contractors know these people will be working on a temporary visa and as stated above, that alone can make the $40 - $50 per hour impossible. If it sounds too good it probably is.

There has been an abundance of electricians, plumbers, etc. who are without work in the US due to the moratorium on additional construction of swine and chicken and turkey industry. These skilled workers have gone to other fields and I know several who have quit their jobs and sought work in New Orleans and Florida and have returned back to Carolina Turkeys and other places where they were working due to lack of money to work as electricians and plumbers in hurricane ravaged areas. Surely there is a need but no money with which to get paid due to government red tape not turning funds loose and insurance companies not having to pay for homeowners coverages because water was the cause of damage. Sure hate to see a lot of them get fooled --- especially my electrician friend.

The courts rule in these cases that the insurance companies do not have to pay the homeowners as it was caused by water and not covered by normal homeowners coverage unless they had purchased flood insurance. That means that all of the people will only be able to use whatever the government gives them to repair or rebuild their homes. There is lots of news daily about the amount of money that will be allotted to fix the damage and the amount already allocated has been held up in red tape. This week on the news it showed Board of Alderman entering into a FEMA Lot and commandeering five FEMA Trailers that were tied up in red tape because the contractor wanted to charge too much for the trailers. They showed them giving these five trailers to residents of their town who had been virtually camping out since the shelters closed and were homeless with no other available places to live. It says that about 75% of their hotels are back in operation but are being used and abused by homeless people waiting for money to rebuild.

I have two nephews who have experience in construction. They have traveled to Florida and New Orleans hoping to get rich. They are flooded with Mexicans working for $6 or $7 an hour for some fat cat who has gotten a contact for those who have gotten money to make any repairs. There was also a commentary with New Orleans officials about the influx of people coming into the area looking for work and telling the people to only use licensed contractors approved by the state.

Hope you can help to communicate the risks of seeking work in New Orleans.

Shirley & Mike Cook

About the Ngobe and Bugle nations

For the most part, can empathize with comments in your article. I've been in Panama a while, so have seen a few changes.

One item struck me, as it seems yet, to be quite widely thought as the truth. This is the Ngobe and Bugle nations.

The Ngobe-Bugle nation was a creation of the Panama government. The major portion of their nation (comarca) includes the territory the people of who were very successful against the Spanish. Indeed, the majority of the Mosquito Coast was theirs and Spanish attempts to "occupy" were most often thwarted.

The Ngobe should probably be "almost" considered two different cultures. The Pacific and the Atlantic sides have some common and different traits.

Specifically, the Ngobe on Pacific have a strict requirements for the female dress (very commonly seen in Chiriqui by tourists); whereas, the Atlantic side seems to blend in the normal dress of the area (Western style). They have a common-based language, with some differences, and it is a written language, as well. They mostly occupy the lower slopes on both side of the Isthmus.

Now, the Bugle are a significantly different group. They cling to the higher elevations, have a different language from the Ngobe, and it is NOT written. I'm not certain of their dress codes, so that may or may not be within one side or the other.

Your comment about "...going to the beach with the Bugle..." is a bit out of character. Unless, the trip was one of discovery for the Bugle!

We have a Ngobe gentleman here in Boquete, who works as a gardener for a local hotel, and is doing the written language teaching to his people in his off time. Most of my understanding has come from him.

Just wanted to set a bit straight in this matter, as we hear the generalizations too often here, as if they are one and the same. Sort of the same as comparing Chinooks to Comanches in the US tribes.

Louis Anciaux

info@panamajetboatexplorer.com

http://www.panamajetboatexplorer.com

Phone (507) 6-612-7736

Editor's note: Ah, but to get from one inland place to another in many remote areas of Panama it's often necessary to travel by boats up and down rivers and out to the sea. The point about the differences between the Ngobe and Bugle, and their languages Ngobere and Buglere, is well taken. Generally the Bugle don't appreciate being a minority in the comarca dominated by the Ngobe and would like their own comarca or at least a greater measure of self-rule, so I have been told. Nevertheless, the geographic and linguistic relationship between the Ngobe and Bugle is closer than that between the Chinooks and the Comanches: Ngobere and Buglere are both of the Chibchan family of languages, while Comanche is of the Uto-Aztecan family and Chinook of the Chinookian family.