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Some of us remember that day in 1992 when Housing Minister Balbina Herrera, then a legislator from San Miguelito, spoiled George H. W. Bush's triumphal return to Panama. But that was then and this is now. This time it was the Mexican lawmakers creating the ruckus.

As these words are written the news is just coming in over the Web that Venezuela has re-elected Hugo Chávez, by about the same margin that he has been winning elections all of these years. No surprise there. But since the last issue the big regional surprise for many has been the resounding leftist victory in Ecuador's presidential runoff. Is Balbina Herrera the only Latin American housing minister who wants to be shown hobnobbing with a member of the Bush family these days? That would be stretching things a bit too far, but suffice to say that it's not just in Iraq where the US government finds itself ever more isolated. It's by no means an incurable situation, let alone a threat to the United States of America, but it does call for some rethinking about certain things.

But in the Caribbean countries, the leaders of government and industry are complaining that Washington policy makers aren't thinking at all when they make decisions that affect the region. The bone of contention there is that new US passport regulations will cut down on "impulse tourism" in those countries. That the hit to regional tourism will diminish over time will be small consolation to some of the countries is at once a crucial and sensitive part of the economy.

Here in Panama tourism is up and will continue to grow, and although we have a government concentrating its efforts on attracting foreign millionaires to build second homes here, most of the Americans who come will be middle class retirees fleeing the United States for economic reasons.

We are still getting the American hustlers, too, one of whom has charged yours truly under Panama's criminal defamation laws. I'm not impressed.

However you want to define it, the English-speaking community is growing here and the size of the community section in The Panama News tends to reflect it. This time the American Society and the Panama Historical Society check in, the passing of a barrier breaking firefighter is noted and those bomberos who were not occupied with disaster relief held their annual torchlight procession.

One popular part of Panama City for Americans and foreigners of other nationalities is the El Cangrejo neighborhood, to which this issue's travel page takes us.

With the Christmas lights, the seasonal blossoms and the current display of orchids, our capital is a bit more colorful than usual. It's also the peak season for petty crime, so do be cautious to protect yourself from muggers, pickpockets and petty scamsters. Robberies at ATM machines and criminals who disable their victims with knockout gases are possibilities of which you should be aware. Don't let fear take you out of public circulation over the holidays, but limit the risks you take and don't let your attention be easily distracted.

The holiday season is also a big time for crime in high places, because the media are often not looking. This year the obvious and obnoxious National Assembly is telegraphing some of its coming below the belt punches by holding secret hearings on the 2007 national budget. And is a legislature that gave itself a black eye about domestic violence earlier this year about to do it again with a series of misogynistic Penal Code changes that includes the legalization of the first offense of domestic assault? The deputies might actually be that dumb, although I hasten to add that stupidity is never a defense in cases of cruelty, which this would be. The stunts that get pulled in our courts and public ministries are likely to be just as bad as what the assembly does, but will probably be less flagrant at first glance.

But then governments, both Panama's and some foreign ones as well, have actually shown themselves doing something useful lately in the face of some destructive storms. The Torrijos administration quickly mobilized when nearly 100 communities were left isolated by floods and storm surges on the Atlantic side and in the Interior. The torrential rains were there for everyone to see, but consider the elemental force of a storm surge that ran three ships aground along the coast of Colon. The damages were predictable but also unusual, and Panama owes a debt of gratitude to the US Army, which sent in three helicopters and a team of several dozen men and women to help out, and to the government of Japan, which was immediately forthcoming with assistance to provide temporary housing, generators and clean drinking water to many of those left homeless. One of the wise things that Panama's government did in the face of the devastation and some of the things so far left undone are the subject of this issue's editorial.

Meanwhile, Panama has something in addition to the holidays to celebrate. One of our special golden moments as a world boxing power continued as Roberto "La Araña" Vásquez went to Paris and won another world championship belt, albeit just barely.

How excellent is our boxing scene? Notice that the World Boxing Association is moving its offices from Caracas to Panama City. Take that not as an insult to Venezuela, but as a recognition of something special and wonderful about Panama.

You say that you have no appreciation for fisticuffs and that, once you are done reading The Panama News and listening to the Wappin' Radio Show, you need to find something to do during our last few rainstorms before dry season sets in? You're in luck there, too, because Silvio Sirias, Willy Gutman and I get into some books, videos and Internet sites that may suffice to pass the time on a rainy day.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson

the editor