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newsAlso in this section:
Street protest against dolphin capture plan Police sweeps, political posturing in aftermath of Curundu fire
Bocas town runs dry, US Army steps in to help
Top Smithsonian exec's ouster has ripple effects on STRI
Panama News Briefs
Noriega's banker out of jail Rafael Arosemena, the former head of the state-owned Banco Nacional de Panama (BNP) during the last years of the dictatorship, has been let out of jail to serve his time under house arrest. During the 1989 invasion Arosemena fled to Mexico, which refused to extradite him for more than 16 years even as the courts here convicted him on a number of charges of embezzling or otherwise misappropriating some $14 million and sentenced him to a total of more than 50 years in prison (although when served concurrently would amount to six to eight years). Last year Arosemena flew back to Panama in a private plane and was taken into custody. In his mid-70s, he's a sick man and recently underwent heart bypass surgery, and that was the reason given for his being allowed to serve his time under house arrest. But that has led prison reform activists to complain that there are at least 250 inmates in this country's jails and prisons who are as least as seriously ill as Arosemena, some of them suffering from terminal conditions, and that they ought to get the same consideration that someone with lots of money and political connections gets. The Arosemena case may be a prelude to another matter that would divide the nation and lower the PRD's re-election chances for 2009: the new Penal Code allows prisoners over age 70 to be allowed to serve their time under house arrest, and when one Manuel Antonio Noriega is released from US custody in September he'll be 70 years old and facing prison time here for several convictions for murder and other offenses that were handed down after trials in absentia.
Endara beats the rap It was a trumped-up charge brought by those who had themselves engaged in massive illegality to begin with. After a referendum campaign in which the "yes" side was funded with public money and activists for the "no" campaign were arrested for passing out leaflets and most of the purported "disclosure" of the documentation behind the Torrijos - Alemán Zubieta Plan to expand the Panama Canal was in the form of a foreign language that most Panamanians can't read, it ended up in an election day this past October 22, in which the great majority of Panamanians stayed home. Former President Guillermo Endara, however, did vote. When he went to vote he parked his car a couple of blocks from the polling station and was immediately accosted by television reporters, who began asking him questions. Endara advised Panamanians to get out and vote and said that he was supporting the "no" side. For that he was charged with campaigning at the polls, which is an electoral offense. But on April 9 the Electoral Tribunal, with the suplentes rather than the first string magistrates voting because the latter were all involved in either Endara's prosecution, last year's illegal "yes" campaign or both, handed down a decision acquitting the former president.
Pinilla gets impunity for nepotism This country has some specific laws against nepotism, and political procedures that allow action when the spirit if not the letter of the policy is offended. In the wake of last year's shuffle at the Electoral Tribunal, a number of the institution's employees were fired without cause --- and in some cases, had their severance pay delayed --- and the new presiding magistrate, Erasmo Pinilla, put nine of his relatives on the payroll. Was it a crime? Arguably not, though lawyers may reasonably differ and many of them do. Was it an offense for which a public official can be impeached and removed? By any reasonable interpretation of the Panamanian Constitution, it was. However, the National Assembly is a bastion of public corruption and the members of its most pro-corruption committee of them all, the Credentials Committee, have decided that the legislature has no power to investigate or try an Electoral Tribunal magistrate for any offense whatsoever.
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Also in this section:
Street protest against dolphin capture plan Police sweeps, political posturing in aftermath of Curundu fire
Bocas town runs dry, US Army steps in to help
Top Smithsonian exec's ouster has ripple effects on STRI
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