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President's uncle's and cousin's responses deepen land sale scandals
Company that produces most Panamanian beer accused of death squad funding

Business sector increasingly alienated from government
Panama News Briefs

Panama News Briefs

New Penal Code in effect

As of May 22, any journalist who publishes or even possesses a business memo that demonstrates an act of public corruption faces the possibility of prison time. That's the day when the new Penal Code passed by the pro-corruption National Assembly and signed by the pro-corruption President Torrijos was published in the Gaceta Oficial and thus went into effect.

Eaton: Panamanian justice doesn't work well

Almost any Panamanian who's not being paid to lie will say the same thing. US Ambassador William Eaton has remarked that "I don't vote in Panama, but as an observer of the country's politics there's a big perception that there's corruption" that lets the rich and powerful get away with things they shouldn't. The usual cast of characters have complained that it was interference in Panama's internal affairs to say this, or demanding specific proofs. It's the sort of thing that recent American ambassadors have periodically said, and it always elicits cries of character assassination from the shadiest characters in Panamanian public life. At this moment there may be an extra added fear factor because a federal court in Virginia is about to try an American citizen for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in an alleged kickback scheme that allegedly involved high ranking members of the ruling PRD, including the president's cousin Hugo Torrijos, getting covert pieces of the action in a public contract to maintain Panama's lighthouses and sea buoys.

Ameglio to make another presidential run

Former legislator Marco Ameglio, who was also president of the Panameñista Party has thrown his hat in the ring for his party's 2009 presidential nomination. He had sought the 2004 nomination but was overruled by President Mireya Moscoso, who chose José Miguel Alemán, who finished a distant third behind Martín Torrijos and Guillermo Endara. That year Ameglio, scion of the Bonlac dairy fortune, ran for mayor of Panama City but was easily beaten by Juan Carlos Navarro. It's unclear what sort of primary battle will take place, and who the contenders will be. There is a movement in all of the opposition parties with the exception of supermarket baron Ricardo Martinelli's Cambio Democratico to hold an interparty opposition primary and thus come up with a unified slate against the PRD. But within the various parties there are also people whose ambitions conflict with such a procedure, and there would be legal and procedural issues to resolve that the PRD-controlled Electoral Tribunal could insure would not be resolved. It is believed that current Panameñista Party leader Juan Carlos Varela (of the Hermanos Varela liquor distilling family) also wants the party nomination, and there are also people in the party who would prefer banker Alberto Vallarino, former President Guillermo Endara or Ricardo Martinelli.

PRD "unity slate"

Well, it's not quite party unity. Most of the PRD, most importantly President Torrijos and his closest supporters, have agreed on a common slate to confront former President Ernesto "Toro" Pérez Balladares in upcoming internal party elections. That means that Panama City's mayor, Juan Carlos Navarro, will be abandoning his race for the party presidency in favor of Housing Minister Balbina Herrera, who has held that spot before. Herrera, a former San Miguelito mayor, says she wants Navarro's job and Navarro, like Toro, wants the 2009 PRD presidential nomination. Listening to First Lady Vivian de Torrijos and watching some of the maneuvering, it seems that in the Palacio de las Garzas there's support for Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro --- the mayor's cousin --- as the next PRD standard bearer. But polls both of party members and the general public show that Lewis Navarro has little support --- he's one of a tiny group of beneficiaries of a special "Banistmo Law" capital gains tax break that brought him an eight-figure windfall, and he only recently joined the PRD --- and there are some published reports that a reputed deal by which Navarro promised to support Torrijos in 2004 in exchange for Torrijos supporting him for president in 2009 is still on. Toro's supporters, however, are complaining that Torrijos and friends are acting very undemocratically.

Torrijos approval rating dips

Different pollsters using different methods have different takes, but in any case it seems that President Torrijos has broad if not very deep approval but is dropping in the polls. La Prensa has published a poll that shows the president getting "good" or "excellent" marks from 60.6 percent of Panamanians, about 6 points less than he had at the beginning of this year. Dichter & Neira, the Latin American affiliate of the Harris organization, does La Prensa's polling and its methods don't allow for people to express a neutral opinion. El Panama America's pollster CID, the regional affiliate of the Gallup organization, does allow a neutral opinion and finds the biggest group of Panamanians of this mind about the president and slightly more people viewing him favorably than unfavorably. Either way one cares to look at it, Torrijos still has a relatively high approval rating for this point in his five-year term. Now, however, there are scandals touching his family, the prospect of General Noriega returning to this country and the beginnings of a power struggle for control of the PRD, all of which carry the potential of a further slide in approval ratings. On the other hand, the start of work on the Panama Canal expansion and other contemplated or ongoing construction projects may improve the economy a bit and with it the president's standing in the polls.

Assembly passes Holy Scriptures Month

September, which is also the month when a reputedly born-again Manuel Antonio Noriega is scheduled to get out of a US prison, will be "Holy Scriptures Month" in Panama. So sayeth, reportedly by unanimous vote, the deputies of the National Assembly. Certain details have been left for the regulatory and bidding processes, like the National Lottery drawing for who gets His robes and the contract to build an enormous needle and adjacent camel stables. Yea, though the deputies lead us through the valley of the shadow of disgrace, there are Panamanians of both religious and secular persuasions, and both supporters and detractors of the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party, urging President Torrijos to veto the law.

Panama abstains on Taiwan WHO membership

Panama is one of only 30 countries that maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but that may be changing. In a May 14 vote at the World Health Organization's annual assembly the vote to remove Taiwan's application for membership in the United Nations-related organization from the agenda was handily defeated as expected, 149 votes to 17. This time Panama abstained instead of voting for Taiwan's membership as it has done nine times in the past. Taiwan lost its seat in the UN to China in 1972 and since then has not been a member of most international organizations. It has for most practical purposes been a separate country from the Peoples Republic of China since 1949, but China and many people in Taiwan insist that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of it. Throughout its long history China has been divided and reunited in various configurations many times, but its majority Han population tend to think of China as one civilization, no matter the political divisions at any one time. The government in Beijing treats any international support for Taiwan as an interference in Chinese internal affairs and won't have full diplomatic ties with any country that recognizes Taiwan. That, however, does not keep China from having important economic relations with Panama.

Posada Carriles release panned

The Torrijos administration didn't like it when Mireya Moscoso pardoned Cuban terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and his accomplices who were serving prison time for a bomb plot here, and they don't like the man's recent release from a US jail either. "They all deserve to be prisoners," Vice President and Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro said of Posada Carriles and his comrades-in-arms.

No newspaper to beat the running dogs?

A student newspaper to roll up and swat the running dogs of imperialism somehow got left out of the May 9 set of non-negotiable campus radical demands. A small group composed of members of student leftist groups blocked traffic on the Transistmica on that day, advocating the defeat of the US-Panama free trade agreement, protesting against the high cost of living and demanding the resignations of Health Minister Camilo Alleyne and Education Minister Miguel Ángel Cañizales. Keeping the protest small but on the other hand aggravating the traffic jam was a tropical cloudburst that made it hard to burn tires in the street but also flooded some of the streets that drivers might otherwise have used to avoid the street blockage.

Pro-Ocean Embassy rally draws 60

Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP) director Richard Pretto and El Higo de San Carlos representante Militza de Navarro had to fill out the crowd with kids, but all told they got 60 demonstrators out to San Carlos city hall to show their support for the capture of wild dolphins in Panamanian waters by Ocean Embassy, a North American - owned company. Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Panamanians oppose the capture of wild dolphins and protests against it have turned out opponents in the hundreds, many of those also kids. But local officials in San Carlos, where Ocean Embassy has been promising 1,600 jobs, support the plan and in a pep talk to the demonstrators the decidedly not impartial Pretto advised people to "Defend what's yours." He did not elaborate in what's sure to be a big argument over just who does own Panama's marine wildlife. Pretto also added a new twist to the frequently changing description of just what it is that Ocean Embassy proposes to do --- now it's being billed as a dolphin hospital.

Moncada chosen for Marine Corridor board

Celma Moncada, president of the Fundacion Humanitas, has been elected as the new environmentalist civil society representative on the Marine Corridor board that decides whether and under what conditions dolphins may be captured in Panamanian waters. Moncada has been charged with criminal defamation (calumnia e injuria) by Ocean Embassy for opposing their dolphin capture plans, and Aquatic Resources Authority of Panama (ARAP) director Richard Pretto has impugned her election on the basis that votes were cast by email. The Torrijos administration habitually attempts to control all negotiations, public discussions and boards that are supposed to represent various sectors by excluding those persons whom it does not control. However, the government will not be able to find a credible environmentalist who supports the dolphin capture program and finds substantial opposition to it within the PRD and its coalition partner the Partido Popular.

Is the Pedregal overpass dangerous?

There are rusty bolts falling out of the Pedregal overpass on Via Tocumen and the roadway on top has a certain give to it, especially as heavy vehicles pass over it. El Panama America had dedicated a lot of effort and space to the problem. So is it dangerous? Engineers who have inspected it disagree. The Ministry of Public Works, which checked it last year and gave it a clean bill of health, says the problems are minor and the bridge is safe. Engineers from the SINAPROC disaster relief agency and the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA) say that the structure is dangerous in that the movement of the roadway could cause accidents as it is now and the bridge's deteriorating condition promises only worse dangers, maybe even a collapse, to come. The "macro" issue is that this is but one of many bridges that critics say needs to be overhauled or replaced, but the government has run the national debt up to record levels while investing relatively modest amounts in the maintenance of transportation and other public infrastructures. According to Public Works Minister Benjamín Colomarco, however, what it's really about is unreasonable sensationalism by El Panama America that's intended as a personal attack on himself.

Dozens of 9 de Enero families flooded out

More than 50 families have had to abandon their homes in San Miguelito's 9 de Enero residential area when waters from unseasonably heavy rainstorms have repeatedly backed up over recent days. The government is blaming area residents for throwing trash in the storm gutters, which are said to have created such a blockage that the water pressure from a storm burst the pipes. And how does so much refuse get into the storm drains? A culture of littering is part of it, but then the theft and non-replacement of sewer caps and grates over curb drains --- and the government's consistent refusal to investigate, prosecute and punish the scrap dealers who traffic in stolen urban infrastructure metal --- leaves a lot more and substantially larger holes into which uncultured individuals dump refuse. Moreover, when did the sewer pipes burst? According to some sources, back in 2004, but because 9 de Enero is a squatter community that had previously been cleared of residents some 17 years ago the government didn't give much priority to resolving the problem. Now, however, Ministry of Public Works backhoes have moved in and as part of their emergency move to dig a channel for the 9 de Enero flood waters to recede, they have caused landslides in the adjacent Residential El Bosque neighborhood --- which is not a squatter neighborhood --- that have affected some 40 properties. The general procedure in Panama is that if you are a squatter in an area prone to flooding you will get government housing relocation assistance when the waters rise and drive you out, but if you are a homeowner who's paying for your house and the government digs a trench that causes your yard or your home to slide away, that's your tough luck.

Boy dies from scorpion sting

Panama's scorpions are mostly not deadly, although it does hurt to be stung by any of them. But the Tityus scorpion does pack quite a venomous wallop, and even if an adult will generally survive the sting, a small child may not. On May 12 Saúl Ramos was stung by a Tityus and taken to a Seguro Social pediatric hospital, but they were out of the antidote there. A search of other public health care facilities found that only the Hospital del Niño had the serum, but its supply was outdated and not usable. The little boy died the following day and now the Ministry of Health and Social Security Fund are pointing fingers at one another about who was responsible to keep some scorpion serum on hand. The parents have filed a criminal negligence complaint. Every year an average of one or two children die from scorpion stings in Panama. If it's a Tityus the specific antivenom is important, but generally first aid for a scorpion sting, like multiple stings from Africanized bees, is antihistamines.

Mayor fires city treasurer

In the 2004 "Pacto Mami" (Martín - Mireya) constitutional changes mayors got the power to hire and fire city treasurers, which had previously belonged to city councils. Panama City mayor Juan Carlos Navarro has exercised that power and fired city treasurer Alberto Salazar, citing insubordination. Salazar has complained that he was treated like a criminal, and it's a very good bet that whenever Navarro find himself as a candidate in a PRD internal election or a primary for a nomination for public office, fellow PRD member Salazar is going to be supporting some other candidate.

ANAM director, legislators back Uncle Charro

There are maps, government reports, neighbors' memories and photos to the contrary, and buried under a few feet of sand there is more solid physical evidence, but National Environmental Authority director Ligia Castro says that the wooded wetland that President Torrijos's uncle Rodolfo "Charro" Espino destroyed was not composed of mangroves. Also coming to the defense of the public corruption that benefited the president's uncle have been members of the National Assembly's Housing Committee, who defended the government Agrarian Reform office's sale of Punta Chame beach front land, which has a market value well over $100 per square meter, to Espino for a fraction of a cent per square meter.

Olympic Committee purge, embezzlement complaint

After a prolonged three-sided power struggle, both long-time Panama Olympic Committee czar Melitón Sánchez and the man who for a time had the upper hand in a court battle for that job, Miguel Vanegas, lost out to Roger Moscote, now the undisputed president of this country's Olympic movement. But on his way out Vanegas made out two checks, adding up to some $112,000, to himself. A criminal complaint has been filed, some of the mainstream media are running stories about athletes who saw support from the international movement diverted and disappear, and the committee has formally expelled Vanegas from the Olympic movement. Vanegas denies wrongdoing and says that he'll explain about the checks in court.

Jones gets three years

Being a wealthy, well-connected and flamboyant lawyer may get you only so far. Carlos Jones, who managed to avoid or suppress an alcohol test and managed to lose the remains of his car, swerved over a median lane while driving at a high rate of speed and crashed head-on into a car driven by Toribio and Nicolasa Díaz, killing the couple. But now he's been convicted of manslaughter (homicidio culposo) and sentenced to 36 months in prison, without possibility of avoiding incarceration by paying a fine. As expected, he's appealing.

Bocas to get a new jail

First things first for the government. Bocas del Toro needs many improvements to its public infrastructures but Minister of Government and Justice Olga Gólcher says that a new jail is coming. The government has already announced road projects and there may be some coming progress on water and sewer services. Bocas has about two percent of Panama's incarcerated persons, about 250 individuals, and overcrowded hellish jail conditions like everywhere else in the country.

Smile for Big Brother

Smile for Big Brother, and be careful about conducting transactions in illegal substances on the streets of the Casco Viejo or certain parts of Bella Vista. The government has installed a couple of dozen surveillance cameras in those neighborhoods which, when their views are not obstructed, can zoom in on people and things a quarter-mile away.

President's uncle's and cousin's responses deepen land sale scandals
Company that produces most Panamanian beer accused of death squad funding

Business sector increasingly alienated from government
Panama News Briefs