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Panama News Briefs

Photojournalist slain

At about 2:30 a.m. on April 8 in Rio Abajo a gang of youths attacked and robbed Eliecer Santamaría, a photojournalist for El Siglo who also drove a taxi. Santamaría's cell phone and wallet were taken and he was stabbed in the heart, but his camera was hidden in the taxi. A passerby found the bleeding photographer and summoned help, but Santamaría died a few minutes later. One man, Edwin "Balín" Cournei, has been arrested and charged in the robbery and murder. As these briefs were written six other suspects, including minors and young adults, were being sought by police. Before losing consciousness Santamaría told the citizen who found him to get his camera to his brother, a photojournalist with La Critica.

Cop who guarded Israeli ambassador slain

National Police officer Aurelio Hernández was shot and mortally wounded on the evening of April 8 in the capital. A 28-year-old Cocle native and veteran of three years and eight months on the force, he had been working on the detail that guards the Israeli ambassador's residence. He was off-duty and returning to his girlfriend's home in the Cero sector of Panama City's Las Mañanitas when three young men accosted him and one of them shot him in the left armpit. Officer Hernández was rushed to the Policlinica JJ Vallarino in Juan Diaz but died a few minutes after his arrival there. It is believed that the officer was mistaken by members of the Los de Arriba gang for a member of a rival gang. Police are looking for the alleged gunman, Nataniel "Monito" Ramos, who had already served a prison sentence for murder, and two other alleged accomplices. Hernández was given police honors and Catholic rites at his April 11 funeral in the Rio Grande corregimiento of Penonome, where he grew up and most of his family lives.

Pulitzer for DEG reporting

New York Times investigative reporters Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker have won the Pulitzer Prize for their investigative reports that traced the poisoning of hundreds of Panamanians with diethylene glycol (DEG) to a factory in China that provided DEG labeled as "substitute" glycerin instead of medical grade glycerin into a chain of distribution, in which labels were switched and the substance ended up being mixed into cough syrup at a Panamanian government lab. The Torrijos administration first aggravated the disaster by suppressing information it had about a strange rash of deaths and illnesses for at least two months, and since then has contrived to conceal its true extent by denying the funds for medical examiners to conduct timely tests in suspected poisoning cases. Thus the government only recognizes 115 deaths that have been conclusively been proven by toxicology tests to have been caused by DEG, when there have been hundreds of other cases that have not been properly investigated because tests were not done in time or not done at all.

Only two original cabinet members left

Balbina Herrera has resigned as Housing Minister to run for president. That leaves only Foreign Minister Samuel Lewis Navarro (who is also First Vice President) and IPAT tourism bureau director Rubén Blades, who is given a seat at the table and a voice but not a vote, from the original Cabinet Council that took office with President Torrijos in September of 2004.

Cops fired in union activist's slaying

When it happened on February 12 the Torrijos administration defended the National Police attack at the entrance to the Policlinica Hugo Spadafora (old Coco Solo Hospital) in Colon in which motorcycle cops drove into a crowd of people seeking medical attention and shot construction worker Al Iromi Smith Rentería in the back, killing him. The police and Ministry of Government and Justice pleaded self-defense and the most anti-labor elements of the Panamanian press and the local American community accepted that, but prosecutors didn't buy it and after the medical examiner's report confirmed eyewitness accounts they had the officer who did the shooting arrested. The incident set off several days of rioting across the country and a police roundup of more than 1,000 union members. Now the National Police have fired both officers involved in the incident, Corporal Eliseo Madrid and Corporal Miguel Pérez, for violating policies about the use of force. Madrid, the gunman, remains in custody on murder charges.

Prosecutor discounts tale of SUNTRACS vandalism

The first government version of August 2007 killing of SUNTRACS construction worker Luiyi Argüelles on Isla Viveros was that he was armed with a pistol. But after reviewing eyewitness testimony and in light of the fact that the police had control of the scene and could produce no such weapon, that was discounted by prosecutors. The next government version was that Argüelles and his union brothers were vandalizing the upscale island resort and residential project when he was killed by a shotgun blast by a police sergeant. Now prosecutor Eduardo Ulloa says that there is no evidence that points to the allegation of SUNTRACS vandalism. The union has always maintained that Argüelles was unarmed and part of a delegation taking a copy of a municipal "stop work" order to the developer's offices. Isla Viveros's Colombian promoter had earlier made death threats against the union in the daily newspapers. So how can a foreigner come here and behave like that? Well, for one thing, one of his partners is Héctor Alemán, a PRD legislator and the president's 2004 campaign manager. Two police officers are under investigation in the slaying, but neither is in custody.

Torrijos owns up to hiring convicted spy

Although it had long been reported, for the first time President Torrijos has acknowledged that one Julio López Borrero, a Spaniard, is on his payroll. That's noteworthy because López Borrero was convicted in Spain for a series of illegal wiretaps, including one on the phone of King Juan Carlos.

PTJ's senior detective heads SEC

When the president and legislature abolished the old Judicial Technical Police (PTJ), most of the institution and its employees were taken into the National Police. However, the crime lab stayed with the Public Ministry as the new Servicio de Criminalistica (SEC), and the senior detective with the old PTJ, Abdiel Rentería, has been appointed as its acting director. There will be a formal search process for a permanent chief for the new organization.

Arms bust in Colon

They were probably headed for Colombia's endless warfare, but whether the intended recipients were left-wing guerrillas, a right-wing paramilitary or some gangster's private army, the won't be getting to their intended destination anytime soon. On April 9 the National Police announced that they had seized a cache of machine guns, assault rifles, pistols and ammunition on Sierra Llorona in Colon province and taken four individuals into custody.

Changuinola water makes people sick

More than 1,300 people in Changuinola have become sick, reporting vomiting and diarrhea, since late March, and the problem has been traced by the Gorgas Institute's lab to E. coli bacteria in the water supply. Various explanations have been offered, starting with breaks in the old water mains to the most affected neighborhoods that allowed sewage to get into the drinking water. Later the IDAAN water and sewer utility noted that frequent electrical outages had been turning off the machine that adds chlorine to the water at the area's water purification plant, which is only two years old. The search for the precise source of the problem has revealed many weaknesses in Changuinola's sanitary infrastructure, the most glaring of which are the lack of sewage treatment and a shortage of trained personnel to run the water system.

Hantavirus cases in Sona

The Ministry of Health has confirmed that two illnesses seen in Sona, Veraguas in January and February were mild cases of hantavirus infection. The patients did not have to be hospitalized, and only some weeks later did tests at the Gorgas Institute pinpoint the problem as hantavirus. The rodent-borne disease tends to get closer to humans in the dry season when field mice and other outdoor rodents move into or around human habitations in search of food and water. Hantavirus infections are often fatal.

Chávez and FARC baiting all the rage

An international media offensive begun by the Colombian government in the wake of the crisis over a Colombian attack on a guerrilla camp in Ecuador is finding echoes in Panamanian and US politics. The claims by Colombian President Álvaro Uribe are that documents allegedly found in a laptop computer seized from the camp show that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez paid the FARC rebels $300 million; that FARC had or was attempting to obtain (the story keeps changing) uranium for a nuclear weapon or dirty bomb; and that FARC is supporting Barack Obama for US presidency. (The latter two allegations have been widely questioned in the international media, but the first charge has been taken at face value by most of the world's corporate mainstream press, despite the proffered document not saying what is claimed.) The Uribe allegations have been repeated in English-language Internet groups in Panama, with the allegation or insinuation being made that those who question them are FARC supporters. Within Panamanian presidential politics, there have been accusations that PRD presidential primary candidate Balbina Herrera, who has apparently had some sort of contact with Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba --- who participated with Chávez in a set of talks that secured the release of several FARC hostages but were cut short by the attack that killed FARC's hostage negotiator Raúl Reyes --- is somehow by reason of her ties with the senator receiving campaign financing from Venezuela. Herrera denies having recently met with Córdoba and most emphatically denies receiving aid from Venezuela. None of the allegations or insinuations of Venezuelan support for Herrera have been accompanied by any proof.

First lady says she's not running

Cristina or Hillary, apparently Vivian is not. Another indication that, despite his relatively high standing in the polls at this point in his presidency, the Martín Torrijo era will end as scheduled on September 1, 2009 came in the form of First Lady Vivian Fernández de Torrijos telling reporters on April 9 that she has no interest in submitting herself to public scrutiny. So much for the speculations, suggestions and urgings that she might become a candidate in the 2009 elections, whether for mayor of Panama City, legislator or president. On March 28 she had fed such expectations by pointedly leaving open the possibility of a mayoral or presidential run. However, the moment that such talk began the usual deference shown by the public, press and rank-and-file PRD membership to a first lady began to break down and the rough-and-tumble of a campaign must not have been a pleasant prospect. So she said she's not running for office, but concentrating on supporting her husband's work for the remainder of his time as president.

TV host / dancer for mayor?

Bosco Vallarino, a TV show host with MEDCOM's Telemetro network who's most notable in the public mind for his dance performance on the "Bailando por un Sueño" show, appears to be Panameñista Party leader and presidential primary candidate Juan Carlos Varela's main man for mayor of Panama City. On April 4 Vallarino, who had been a member of MOLIRENA, joined the Panameñistas and spoke of a possible run for mayor. Also seeking nominations to be opposition candidates for mayor are attorney Miguel Antonio Bernal, legislator Sergio Gálvez, publicist Carlos Arosemena and businessman Iván Blasser. On the PRD side, the announced candidates include businessman Noel Riande and SINAPROC director Roberto Velásquez Abood. The various parties will have primaries, and after that there will be talks, particularly on the opposition side, about alliances that could have some primary winners stepping aside in favor of unified slates. The odds are very strong that there will be more than two candidates in the race, especially as for some of the smaller parties getting enough votes to retain ballot status may be a higher priority than actually winning public offices.

Opposition deputy bolts to PRD

It wasn't a huge shock, as she was one of the opposition deputies who voted for Pedro Miguel González as National Assembly president. On March 26 legislator Yasmina Guillén de O’Brien, elected from Chiriqui's Circuit 4-3 on the Solidaridad ticket, made it official and joined the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD). That gives the president's party caucus 44 votes in the 78-member assembly.

A breakwall for Mireya's yacht

Former President Mireya Moscoso's controversial beach house at Punta Mala in Pedasi --- officially in her brother's name after the maneuvering that put this public asset into her private hands --- now has a break wall to protect her yacht. However, one needs a permit from the Maritime Authority of Panama (AMP) to build such a structure, and none was issued. An investigation has begun. In Mireya's defense, the claim is that, although it's not on maritime charts and wasn't previously noticed by people flying overhead, the break wall dates back to World War II, when there was a US military installation there. That claim should be amenable to proof --- one way or the other --- by a comparison of old and new satellite photos.

IOC reinstates Panama

On April 10 in Beijing the International Olympic Committee announced that Panama's suspension had been lifted. That puts world-class long jumper Irving "El Canguro" Saladino back in contention to win a medal for Panama, which would be our first medal in 60 years. The IOC had suspended Panama last year due to government intervention in the organization and a battle between rival claimants to the leadership of Panama's Olympic Committee. We now have a single Olympic Committee leadership to present to the world, although one that was supported by only a minority rump of active sporting federations with other organizations' representatives favoring rivals, boycotting the process or abstaining. We also have several current or former federation leaders facing criminal investigations and the current Olympic Committee of Panama secretary, baseball federation leader and legislator Franz Wever, only kept out of that criminal case because of the immunity he has as a deputy in the National Assembly. Had the suspension not been lifted Panamanian athletes would have been allowed to compete, but not under the Panamanian flag. The ongoing problems, however, are likely to limit Olympic fund raising and thus the size of the team we send to Beijing.

Government vehicles parked during holidays

The Transito cops were not just stopping cars driven by drunks over the long Easter weekend. They also stopped government vehicles that were being driven for unofficial purposes, 64 of them in all, and made their drivers park the vehicles, hand over the keys and go on their way by other means. Besides any possible disciplinary actions on their jobs, all who were caught driving government vehicles for private purposes over the holidays face the prospect of paying a $100 fine. By contrast, the police only seized 51 vehicles due to their drivers' inebriation.

Ethics complaint against ex-prosecutor

Lawyers for those who were injured and the survivors of those who were killed in an October 23, 2006 incident in which a bus with air conditioning that used a flammable chemical and without an emergency exit caught fire have filed an ethics complaint against former assistant prosecutor Juan Carlos Rodríguez with the Honor Tribunal of the Colegio de Abogados (the bar association's discipline committee). Rodríguez, they allege, managed the file and played a role in the prosecutors' refusal to touch the issues of an inherently unsafe vehicle being put on the road, of the seller's share of the responsibility and of the Banco Nacional de Panama's insistence that only this unsafe brand of Guatemalan-made bus, which was marketed only through this seller, be bought with the government backed loan that the bus owner/operator received throught the bank. (Subsequently the courts have ordered prosecutors to include those matters in the investigation and a new prosecutor has been assigned to the case.) Rodríguez, meanwhile, has gone into private practice with the law firm that represents the seller, F. Icaza, and that's alleged to be a conflict of interest.

Mosquera wins a round

Former world boxing champ Vicente "El Loco" Mosquera, jailed since September of 2006 on a murder charge, has had his case sent back to the circuit court for more investigation by the Second Superior Tribunal, which found that there is not enough evidence in the file to establish that the shooting death of fisherman Antonio Trejos in a Puerto Caimito beachfront bar was a crime. Whether it was or was not, Mosquera has always denied shooting the man. The prosecutor says he has enough evidence to prove that the shooting was murder and that Mosquera did it, and that he'll appeal to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile Mosquera got a high-profile visitor in jail, boxing promoter Don King. The man with the electric shock hair put in a word in favor of the prizefighter's release from custody.

No change in police recruiting standards

After being sternly contradicted by his boss, National Police chief Rolando Mirones has backed off on statements that the police will ease certain restrictions in order to get more young people to consider signing up for the police force. Mirones had suggested that minimum height requirements and bans on recruiting homosexuals and people with tattoos would be loosened. But Mirones's boss, Colonel Daniel Delgado Diamante of Manuel Antonio Noriega's general staff, now Minister of Government and Justice Daniel Delgado Diamante, called people with tattoos "maleantes" and said that they'll never get accepted by the police, nor would homosexuals (whom Delgado characterized as disciplinary problems). What it probably boils down to is that it will take just a bit longer to expand the police force as President Torrijos has promised and that the PRD is going to have a harder time appealing to certain segments of young voters in next year's elections.

New fund for informants

Turn someone in to the police and you may have groceries that week. President Torrijos says he'll create a $100,000 fund to create cash rewards for people who provide information to police that leads to arrests. The problem is that in gang-infested neighborhoods people frequently won't talk to cops about crimes that they have seen or anything else. The proffered solution, rewards for information, may change that a bit. However, a lot of citizens in the most dangerous neighborhoods are likely to figure that cash from police in exchange for being on a vicious gang's hit list isn't a very good deal.

Charges in prostitute's death provisionally thrown out

The Supreme Court has upheld lower court decisions to provisionally dismiss murder charges against two people implicated in the March 2005 death of Vanessa Márquez, a 19-year-old prostitute who fell, jumped or was pushed from a 17th floor balcony at the Plaza Paitilla Inn during the course of a sex and drugs orgy in which a number of prominent young professionals participated. There was an attempt to disguise the death as an automobile accident and to buy the cooperation of investigating cops and medical examiners, which had some success and, because the remains were quickly cremated, made proofs in the case difficult. It was held that the evidence in the file was not conclusive as to whether the death was a homicide, suicide or accident and thus that murder charges could not be supported. However, as the dismissal was provisional the case could be reopened if new proofs are found and prosecutors are not discounting that possibility.

WWII bomb unearthed in Arraijan

In the El Progreso #4 neighborhood of Arraijan, the Housing Ministry (MIVI) had just turned over lots to people of modest means to build homes. At one of these the future residents were digging to put in foundations when their shovel hit something metal. It was a bomb of World War II vintage, a leftover from US war games decades ago, still live and dangerous. The police bomb squad came out to deactivate and remove the artifact. This particular site is not within the recognized old firing ranges, the reality being that over nearly a century of US presence there were many firing ranges and sites for old war games in the former Canal Zone about which the US Armed Forces no longer had any records, and in the dispute about the removal of unexploded ordnance the Pérez Balladares administration negligently accepted maps proffered by the US government as a complete statement of the problem. But area residents told La Estrella that this is not the first such find in the neighborhood.

Lions moving

Three lions who lived for years at the La Chorrera fairgrounds will be moving to new premises, most likely at the Summit Zoo. Inspectors from the National Environmental Authority found that the animals were malnourished and kept in cages that were too small and not kept clean, and revoked the permit to keep them at the facility.

These briefs were updated on April 13

News \| Economy \| Culture \| Opinion \| Lifestyle \| Science \| Outdoors Noticias \| Opiniones \| Calendar \| Archive \| Unclassified Ads \| Home	Volume 14, Number 8 April 20 - May 3, 2008