letters

Questions, corrections, criticism and some kudos

Ackee

The Dining Out article is completely incorrect regarding ackee. Ackee can be eaten raw providing the fruit or vegetable has burst open on its own. If you should force it open, then it is deadly.

Thus it is important to know from whom you get the ackee from before consuming it.

Mauricio Loo

Editor's note: Mr. Loo's point is well taken, although I can say that I have never eaten raw ackee and had always been told that I shouldn't. This is what the Wikipedia says about the hazards of ackee:

"The fruit of the Ackee is not edible in its entirety. It is only the fleshy arils around the seeds that are edible; the remainder of the fruit and seeds are poisonous. The fruit must only be picked after it has opened naturally, and it must be fresh and not overripe. Immature and overripe ackee fruit are also poisonous. The fruit, even when ripe, is a cause of Jamaican vomiting sickness, characterized by vomiting and hypoglycemia."

Customer service in Panama?

Greetings from California.

I enjoy perusing your newspaper as I am contemplating a visit to Panama and like to pick up on information the mainstream press isn't covering.

Can you give me some idea of the nature of customer service in Panama. Is it good or bad? I've heard a couple of negative stories from local Panamanians about poor service, but the situations had mostly to do with a business coming to construct or repair something at someone's home and not following through or doing a poor job. I'm interested in learning of customer service practices across the board.

I write booklets about the benefits of providing good customer service to customers as well as employees. 

Any feedback you can provide will be much appreciated.

Continued success,

Don Lucky

Editor's note: In many sectors of our society, customer service leaves a lot to be desired. Some of the better hotels and restaurants are going well out of their way to educate their employees in the subject, and since we have all of the world's great commercial cultures represented here we have some minorities who are brought up working in family businesses in which customer service is the tradition. Working against good service is the "hidalgo" phenomeon --- derived from a Spanish contraction that means "somebody's son" (hijo de algo) --- in which members of the old Creole aristocracy and those who emulate or get their values from such folks believe that work is beneath their dignity and that wealth, respect and the customers' business are all things that are owed to them because of who they are. People like this usually pay and treat their employees badly and these in turn tend to be unmotivated and unhelpful to customers. Sweep all the cultural baggage to the side and you will find that in many cases and many industries Panamanians are as friendly as can be but don't have much of an idea about what good service is. Thinking about the 24 hours previous to writing this note, I had excellent service in a restaurant, a most helpful proprietor when there was a slight problem at an Internet cafe and some grocery baggers who preferred to compete with one another over who would get the lanes with the people with lots of items rather than put my dozen things in the bag. Let me not generalize by industry, because that would be misleading, but two out of three examples of customer service being good ones is not particularly unusual in this country.

About Cuba and The Panama News

Mr. Jackson, I really love your Panama News.

I am a Cuban American and agree with you 90 percent, but sometimes you need to know the pain, the destruction and the truth about Castro --- just because he writes an article about ethanol, does not mean that he is being honest. Otherwise, how could you explain the destruction of the Cuban sugar industry? Cuba had 160 sugar mills pre-Castro, now, barely 75.

You know what that means? Cuba would have been the largest ethanol producer, but the real truth is that he does what is convenient for him. Imagine what would happen to Venezuela and the oil companies. They just want to keep extracting oil until it's depleted. Castro is against ethanol because Chávez is his friend, otherwise he would be endlessly talking about ethanol as a renewable source of energy.

As I said, love your Panama News, love Panama, and don't agree with the idea of Castro as an amiable and gentle scholar. He, like Che Guevara, is a murderer. I was able to get out of Cuba in '62 (14), with the Pedro Pan group. I have sad memories regarding Castro, one of the richest man in the world and the owner of the whole island --- he owns everything, including houses, schools, hospitals and even the shoeshine boy's tool box. (Yes, things have changed a bit, but not sufficient to allow the Cubans to use their creative skills).

For the record, my father was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the simple fact of owning a grocery store, my cousin was sentenced to 30 years in jail, and one of my uncle disappeared in '61. Cuba ceased to be Cuba in 1961.

Thanks for your Panama News, I really enjoy it.

RQ

Presumed guilty in Panama?

I've read (Lonely Planet) that in Panama, you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. Is this a problem?

I would think that if the police charge you with something, then you are presumed guilty. In many poor countries, police are corrupt and/or short on money --- especially towards the end of the month --- which is when they pull you over, hoping that you'll pay them off.

Just wondering how big of a problem this is in Panama.

Otherwise, looks like a nice place to retire.

John

Editor's note: In drug cases in Panama, the burden of proof gets shifted to the accused to prove his or her innocence, and that's always a problem. Mostly the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty applies here.

Our big problem is that we have have weak, politically manipulable and quite frequently corrupt institutions that all too often let the guilty rich buy their way out of anything while the wrongly accused poor can spend a long time in hellish prison conditions just awaiting trial.

There is a certain amount of police corruption but these days it's quite rare for a driver who didn't commit any infraction to be stopped and shaken down for a bribe. As in the USA, the big leagues of police corruption are in those units that deal with major criminal organizations that can afford to pay major bribes.

Just a thought...

This from a link in your Business & Economy section:

"Most of this issue of The Panama News is uploaded, but this page is not yet done. Why not read what's available now and come back here in a little bit?"

This from a frustrated reader:

"Why not just give me the news?" We need more unbiased news outlets!

Your name is splashed all over the Internet, Jackson --- even wikipedia.org has your bio. Bimonthly, or however frequently you update your site, just isn't enough in today's world.

Just a thought from a critical reader,

Ian

PS: I don't mean to be rude, but you might want to employ use of your Spell Check function before posting an article.

Editor's note: First, I admit that I have been biting off more than I can chew and leaving too many holes in each issue of late, and I will make an effort to reduce this.

Second, I try to get the stories right and correct any errors. But of course, "unbiased" is generally a lie, because any journalist's values will show up in what he or she considers newsworthy. Those who claim to have no point of view and be completely "objective" tend to be the most slanted and dishonest media of them all.

Third, I have nothing to do with that Wikipedia page, which is inaccurate in several respects. To the extent that my work gets all over the Internet, that's mostly a function of people thinking it worthy enough to pass on or reprint.

Finally, it IS rude to demand unpaid labor from somebody, which is what you are in effect doing when you insist that I publish more often than twice per month.

The Panama Eagle?

Are you now writing for The Panama Eagle as well as The Panama News?

Just seen a recent contribution there entitled “Panamanians’ Tolerance, Confidence in Institutions Wanes,” by Eric Jackson

Pretty good stuff, but why not publish it in The Panama News?

Martin Cavinue

Editor's note: Actually, that story first appeared in The Panama News. There is a developing cooperative relationship between The Panama Eagle, a monthly print tabloid, and The Panama News, so some of my work, and things by some of the other contributors to this website, will appear in that publication.

From Ocean Embassy

I remember meeting with you several months ago and enjoying our conversation. I as well as our team am a passionate conservationist going about this through zoological institutions. I also work with other conservation organizations that meet the same kind of criticism from uninformed media for seeking to displace humans for the benefits of animals. I am so disappointed by your bias. We never moved animals to Mexico . We were called in to clean up those operations and to ensure safe transports should they occur. I cannot even begin to comprehend how you’ve come to believe one set of facts and not even balance with our version of the facts. You were not the journalist that I thought you were Eric, though you are entitled to your opinion which is what your newspaper is about, your opinion, not fact. I have 50 other responses for slanderous comments that you perpetuate. You have insulted my integrity and commitment to animals. We have a different route that thrives on a community, conservation, education and yes, successful business model. If we could have only had media here in Panama that sought to build bridges instead of perpetuate negativity, wars and the like. What is this doing to save oceans, inspire people.

Lisa Lauf Rooper

Ocean Embassy Panama

Fan mail

Visited your site today.

Sorry, been kind of busy all this week.

Realy liked this edition.

Keep it up, bro.

The editorial is a "must read" by any one thinking or all ready living in Panama.

Roberto

Fine Art Auction-Patronato de Nutricion

I read the announcement of our Fine Art Auction in The Panama News. I feel really excited with your comments about our work, and we really appreciate it.

It will be an honor for me to meet you in our event.

I didn't mention it you before, but also you could win some good fine art, because we are going to raffle some gifts among the participants.     

Then, you can sip the wine, nibble the cheese, and maybe you can get something.

Irmelda Valdés

Patronato de Nutrición

Editor's note: It has been a few years since last I have reported on the activities of the Patronato de Nutricion but I meant what I said when I opined that it's one of a few organizations doing worthy things to reduce hunger in this country. And I suppose that even for those of us who don't have the money to bid on quality art, ten bucks for the wine and cheese and hobnobbing and at least exposure to good art, plus a raffle ticket to maybe win some of it, would be a reasonable investment. For those who missed the announcement in the last issue, The Patronato de Nutricion is going to have a fine art auction in the Grand Ballroom of the Hotel Miramar on May 17, with bidding starting at 8 p.m. or so but people being able to inspect the works by Manuel Chong Neto, Carlos Arboleda, Ivan Delgado, Guillermo Trujillo, Gaenor Speed et al starting at 6 p.m.

Wappin' Radio/The Panama News

I tried the hyperlink you printed, and got the page for Apache Server only; no content.  Can you check out the validity of this event yourself?

Thanks, Hippie-Pana-Gringo!  Have a happy day in Pa-Na-Ma!

Paul T. Nawrocki

Editor's note: There have been problems as you describe, which it is hoped will be resolved shortly when a server change is completed.