previous business & economy briefs

Business & Economy Briefs,
through February 10

Carnival figures, according to the spins

Panama City Carnival czarina Mingthoy Giro is claiming that the celebrations she ran brought 17,000 tourists to Panama and generated $43 million in gross spending. That doesn't count business losses for some companies along or near the Carnival area on the Transistmica, which had access blocked or diminished, or the clean-up and other expenses borne by private parties. Meanwhile, around the country there were 14 or 15 Carnival-related deaths reported, depending on how the various media counted. Four of these were in traffic mishaps --- a lower than usual highway death toll, perhaps due to the Transito cops taking a harder line against drunk driving this year --- and three people drowned. Six other deaths were the result of violence that took place mostly away from the Carnival sites where there was a heavy police presence. Other deaths are awaiting medical examiners' reports but are suspected to be drug or alcohol related.

Miami wants to buy our sand, but no sale

Florida's Dade County (metro Miami) is losing its beaches to erosion that's probably at least in part related to global warming and is looking for places to buy replacement sand. Thus an inquiry has been made to Panama, but according to El Panama America this country's National Environmental Authority (ANAM) is taking a dim view of the suggestion. ANAM didn't consider sand supply a big enough issue to look askance at a Costa Cintera landfill environmental impact statement that didn't say where the sand for the project would be obtained, but now it seems that the authority is more cautious about depleting this finite national resource.

"Justice Without Paper"

On February 7 President Torrijos signed a law that will gradually convert the documents of court cases from words on paper to the positive and negative electric charges of computer files --- no doubt meaning that we'll see fewer fires in courthouses and the more frequent creation unusual electromagnetic fields around the machines in which court files are stored. Besides the changed (probably neither increased nor decreased) opportunities for corruption, the move will likely save Panama money and might even speed up the judicial process. Panama's digitalization of its legal system will initially involve the cost and labor of scanning and storing some 2.2 million court files, but after that's done there is the promise of less expense and more convenience. The system we are about to adopt has been previously embraced by Spain, Brazil, Costa Rica and Paraguay. In a statement published in El Panama America a spokesperson for the judicial system said that in recent years the courts have received 12 new cases for each 10 that they have resolved. That means that this country needs to speed up its court system by about 20 percent to just keep up with the docket.

Electoral Tribunal sends contract back to Comptroller

Comptroller General Carlos Vallarino refused to sign it the first time around, but the Electoral Tribunal has sent its no-bid contract with L-1 Identity Solutions, which it wants to create a $3.6 million voter identification system for the 2009 election, back to Vallarino in another attempt at approval. With an electronic system using American technology, the PRD, which has historically been a big proponent of election fraud, will be able to blame its disenfranchisement of voters on a machine. So far the PRD-controlled Electoral Tribunal has stricken more than 90,000 names from voter rolls ahead of the 2009 elections and is running an ad campaign warning citizens of criminal prosecution if they try to vote in the wrong precinct.

No-bid contracts for bridge jobs

President Torrijos, having declared it a matter of urgency to get the work done before he leaves office next year, has prevailed upon the cabinet to approve a $12.579 million no-bid contract with a company called the Asociacion Accidental Puente de las Americas to do structural repairs on the Bridge of the Americas. Another no-bid contract, this time for $7.307 million with the Corporacion M&S Internacional to build a vehicular overpass on Via Brasil, was approved because the government said that an earlier attempt to get bidders failed. So who is the Asociacion Accidental Puente de las Americas? A consortium of the Alemán family's Constructora Urbana SA (CUSA) and Freyssinet de Mexico, a subsidiary of a French-based multinational engineering and construction firm. M&S is a Costa Rican based company that specializes in road and bridge projects and works in the Central American countries.

More time for PRD members to get civil service jobs

Theoretically, Panama has a civil service system. With each new government, however, public employees on the civil service rolls, some with decades on the job, get fired and replaced with political appointees. As a government approaches its end, political hacks get put on the civil service rolls without regard to any of the system's rules. As had been previously manipulated, this past January 4 was the last day for anyone to get on the civil service rolls without having taken a competitive exam. But then on January 20 the PRD held internal elections in which President Torrijos was unable to win clear control of the party, so time has been extended until April 30. What's happening is that anti-Torrijos delegates who won their races in the PRD elections and have government jobs or contracts are being threatened with loss of employment unless they switch sides and those who don't have such things to take away are being lured with the promise of government jobs with civil service protection if they switch sides the district conventions and the March 9 national convention. Spokespeople for the opposition parties are mocking the move and most political observers believe that no matter what Torrijos promises his successor is unlikely to respect these irregular designations of civil servant status.

Taboguilla oil spill

On February 1 there was an bunker oil spill at the Taboguilla Island oil tank farm in the course of an Italian ship taking on fuel. A half-kilometer slick was contained by a boom deployed by Ocean Pollution Control, but the accident reinforced objections by people on nearby Taboga Island to a [proposed new petroleum terminal a kilometer and one-half from Taboga. After an investigation the government said that it appears that the spill was caused by a faulty valve on the Taboguilla fuel tank.

Volcan Baru risks

One conventional wisdom is that Volcan Baru, the volcano on the slopes of which Boquete, El Volocan, Cerro Punta and other communities are located, has a 50 percent chance of a major eruption in the next 35 years. The last one was 400 years ago, but a series of magma-related tremors took place in 2006. Now the US Geological Survey has weighed in, opining a that "Volcan Baru will erupt again in the near or distant future," that there will be seismic warnings and that "eruptions will likely be similar past eruptions --- explosive and dangerous to those living on the volcano's flanks. Outlying towns and cities could endure several years of disruption."

Bust in Colon business leader's slaying

On February 1 police arrested a man in connection with the January 26 robbery and slaying of Eduardo Humberto Cattán, the owner of the Textilindo fabric store on Avenida Bolivar who was vice president of Colon's Chamber of Commerce. Other suspected accomplices are being sought by police. The same day there was a near total Colon business shutdown as a protest against what merchants say is a rising crime rate.

Protests over shortage of pediatric oncologists

On February 1 there were protests by parents in Panama City and David over a shortage of pediatric oncologists in the public health care system. There are between 60 and 70 kids with various types of cancer being treated in the public health care system and there are three pediatric oncologists. With one of them recently moved from David to the capital, kids in the Interior who have cancer must come to Panama City to get treatment and their families are most unhappy about the time and expense involved in the travel to all the appointments.

Another bus fire, this time just an economic tragedy

The legal system isn't yet close to sorting out the October 23, 2006 bus fire that claimed 18 lives, and now we have had another spectacular bus burning, this time on the evening of February 1 when a Colon to Panama express coach caught fire en route to the Pacific side. The bus was evacuated without human casualties but the fire consumed it and fire marshals are investigating its cause.

News \| Business \| Editorial \| Opinion \| Letters \| Arts \| Review \| Community \| Fun \| Travel Unclassified Ads \| Calendar \| Outdoors \| Dining \| Science \| Sports \| Español \| Front Page Archives	Volume 14, Number 4 February 17 - March 8, 2008