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Photo by Eric Jackson

Capitalism threatened?

Panama is not on the verge of a communist revolution. Its ubiquitous informal micro-enterprises, though the World Bank says they account for some three-fifths of the national economy, are always at risk of being shut down or moved away by the government, usually at the behest of larger businesses. But given that we have hardly any of the institutions of a welfare state and big business is by and large laying off more people than it's hiring, the people who are displaced have to find new niches in the informal economy.

This vendor is one of the latest to have his livelihood threatened, as he occupies space on the Avenida Central Peatonal. Some of the store owners along that pedestrian mall have convinced the city council that the return of cars to that street will allow them to compete with the shopping malls. You see, the politicians here almost never learn from the stupid mistakes that have been made in other places. They don't consider it part of their job to do their homework. Work just doesn't figure into the equation for most members of this country's benighted political class.

Did you think that the brilliant entertainer Rubén Blades would be any different? Apparently when it comes to his government job, he's not.

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This is one of those issues in a month with five Fridays, so there will be three weeks between this edition and the next one. And not particularly for that reason, but because a lot more people have been sending us stuff, we have more extensive opinion and letters sections this time. My brother Nick has contributed a thing about bringing war criminals to justice, but it was written before Major General Taguba, who was run out of the US Army for his investigation of the Abu Ghraib atrocities, broke his long silence and talked to the press.

The corruption in Panamanian politics is more pervasive, more open, less sophisticated, less deadly and for generally lower stakes than what goes on in the USA. The risks of being called to account are historically lower here, and because we're a relatively poor country the human toll taken by corruption tends to be higher in Panama than it is in the states.

However, the disturbing trend in the USA under the Bush administration, whether it's the systematic use of torture like in the Brazil of the 1970s or Iraq war profiteering by the likes of Halliburton that remind one of Panamanian scams writ large, is Washington's lowering itself to Third World standards. That's really what the US district attorney firings are all about: an attempt by the Bush administration to grant itself a banana republic sort of impunity that your ordinary country club conservative types won't countenance. The GOP majority courts are increasingly voiding attempts by the Bush administration to exempt itself from the US Constitution, much like the Burger court did when Richard Nixon pushed his luck.

Nowadays American politics are meaner and rougher than in the old days and they're being played out against the backdrop of the de-industrialized economy of a nation in debt so there's a lot more to lose. It won't be a 2008 presidential campaign issue, but I expect that at some point US political discourse is going to center on whether top Bush administration officials should be tried for war crimes under US law or handed to an international tribunal.

But meanwhile Osama bin Laden and his boys are still out there, and even though politically defeated in Iraq the United States will not be able to get along with a broken military. Will they have to bring back the likes of Taguba to rebuild the US Army? Will they have to reinstate a draft? You never know about bright people who shut up and toe the line when they must --- sometimes situations change and they emerge as creative and able leaders, and sometimes they prove to be dull sycophants in all circumstances. We don't really know who can or will lead the US Armed Forces past Iraq, but it would seem to me that even if they don't have to look to those forced out by the Bush administration to find the talent they need, the rehabilitation of those who stood for honor and professionalism and were punished for it will be necessary to the restoration of morale in the face of the continuing jihadi threat.

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We in Panama also need to keep up our guard against the likes of bin Laden, but the threats we face are often far more atavistic than those posed by Dark Ages theocrats. For example, being eaten by a large crocodile.

Take part in our ongoing reader poll about what Panama should do about our out-of-control crocodile population. Whether it's a Wonder Dog or a cute doberman puppy, you also may not want to take the canine in your life down to play near the weeds at the edge of the lake.

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Prostitution is legal in Panama, and largely practiced by foreigners. There are very wealthy people, top government officials, movers and shakers in the tourism industry and elements of the English-language media who have a stake in all the ugliness of this business. In this issue of The Panama News we have the US State Department's take on one necessary aspect of this industry, the trafficking in human beings. As usual, we have certain pseudo-nationalists who complain that the Americans are unfairly meddling in Panama's affairs. Then there are those who go on quietly taking their cut.

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The madhouse on Via Veneto and the sex trade are not the only tourist games in town. It's far from that, and it's such a segmented business that it often makes little sense to talk of it in the singular. In this issue we take a look at one aspect of the sports fishing tourism industry, the sale of higher-end fishing boats. I won't hold my breath waiting to get one of those.

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There is a lot of concern about what new international health regulations will mean for our tourism industry. Although the treaty on this subject went into effect on June 15, Panama is not yet ready to implement it and we don't know the regulations that will eventually apply. In the longer run, people traveling between countries will very likely have to carry immunization cards along with their passports --- but this will not save us from a deadly pandemic unless the world also does other things like increase the ability to quicky develop and mass produce vaccines. Our science, health and technology section gives the World Health Organization the opportunity to explain what the new system aims to do. They put their best foot forward about a controversial topic, but I urge people not to blow them off over short-term concerns because there's nothing to spoil international travel and commerce like a deadly plague.

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Speaking of travel, a bunch of readers have sent us photos this time, so our travel section takes us to Midway for the 65th anniversary of the famous naval battle, to Germany and to the Golden Triangle area of Southeast Asia.

Enjoy.

Eric Jackson

the editor