Panama News Briefs

Panama News Briefs

Martinelli leaps ahead of Balbina

A Dichter & Neira poll taken between November 28 and 30 and released by TVN and Radio Omega Stereo on December 3 found Ricardo Martinelli opening up a wide lead over Balbina Herrera in the 2009 presidential race. The supermarket baron and Cambio Democratico party leader, who served as Minister of Canal Affairs in the Moscoso administration and Seguro Social director in the Pérez Balladares administration, had 41.3 percent of the voters saying that they'd vote for him were the election held then. Democratic Revolutionary Party president and presidential nominee Balbina Herrera, who was Housing Minister in the Torrijos administration and has served as legislator and mayor of San Miguelito, was able to muster only 31.4 percent of the voters surveyed who said they'd vote for her. Considering that pollsters did not go into the indigenous comarcas or remote rural communities where the PRD is in trouble (largely over land tenure issues), the outlook for Herrera may be even bleaker. However, between now and the voting next May 3 is an eternity in politics.

Not the biggest monolith

At simultaneous special conventions on November 23, the Panameñista and MOLIRENA parties formalized their alliance for the 2009 elections and their joint presidential standard bearer, Juan Carlos Varela, described the alliance's unity as "monolithic." Maybe that's so, but both parties, particularly MOLIRENA, have seen large-scale resignations since the disastrous 2004 elections threw them out of power. Varela is running a distant third behind Cambio Democratico's Ricardo Martinelli and the PRD's Balbina Herrera, getting around 15 percent support in most of the polls. That's about equal to the rock-bottom traditional base of Dr. Arnulfo Arias supporters since the founder of that political strain died, and when you figure in the three percent or so that former President Guillermo Endara, an old Arnulfista who founded and is the presidential nominee of the breakaway Vanguardia Moral de la Patria party, that looks very bad for the Panameñista Party. The situation could possibly be fatal for MOLIRENA, which stands to lose its ballot status due to a poor showing at the polls next year.

Partido Popular revolt

The Partido Popular, formerly the Christian Democratic Party, is allied with the ruling PRD and as a result has been shrinking for years. Recently it has seen such high-profile switches from the Balbina Herrera to the Ricardo Martinelli camps as that of former legislator Guillermo Cochez, and with Martinelli overtaking Herrera in all the polls there is fighting among those who remain. Eduardo Vallarino, the hapless 1994 Christian Democrat presidential candidate and current party vice president, is most prominent among a group that issued a position paper arguing that the promises made in the 2004 presidential campaign of Martín Torrijos, particularly the one about "zero corruption," have not been kept and that the party must therefore seek other alternatives to its alliance with the PRD if it wants to survive. Vallarino added that the Christian Democratic movement was traditionally one based on ideological principles and that staying with the PRD would be uncharacteristically opportunist. But party president René Orillac told La Estrella that if Vallarino wants out of that alliance the latter should challenge him for control of the Partido Popular.

Balbina gets high-profile endorsements

The polls show her presidential bid attracting few voters beyond the traditional hard core of one-third of the electorate that the PRD always gets. However, maybe Balbina Herrera has fewer but better independent supporters. On November 19 she unveiled a committee of independent supporters called Exito Panama. Headed by attorney Elda Samson, the committee includes Houston Astros slugger Carlos Lee and renowned cumbia singer Sandra Sandoval.

Idiot wind

Now let's get this argument right: the Panameñista candidate for mayor of Panama City, Bosco Vallarino, told a Juan Diaz neighborhood meeting what they already know, that they aren't safe from violent youth gangs, AND that it's because only two percent of juvenile delinquents get convicted. (Where he got that figure is anybody's guess.) So what to do about the inability of our prosecutors and juvenile courts to convict the rotten little punks? Why, there should be harsher penalties for those who do get convicted, Vallarino opined, so as to avoid the "subterfuges by which the action of justice is limited." All this may superficially appeal to those who are afraid to wait at a bus stop in the neighborhood, but especially in light of the facts that the court system and the criminal and juvenile delinquency laws are the business of the national rather than the municipal government, it begs a bunch of questions about what Vallarino would actually do about the problem he cites if he's elected.

Public Ministry ordered to rehire

Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez has lost a series of cases in the Supreme Court, wherein it was ordered that nine people whom she had fired must be reinstated with back pay. The money owed adds up to more than $1 million and to the extent that the ex-employees want their jobs back rather than a further buyout --- and one of those nine people, former Institute of Legal Medicine director Humberto Mas, definitely does --- there is going to be some organizational shuffling involved. Gómez has moved for reconsideration of those decisions and is asking the Ministry of Economy and Finance for a budget supplement in case the decisions stand.

More trouble for ex-minister Delgado Diamante

Now that he's out of the cabinet and at least formally possessed of only those privileges and immunities that everyone else has, former Minister of Government and Justice Daniel Delgado Diamante may have better standing to accuse people of criminal defamation but investigations of old murder allegations against him are also proceeding in a more regular fashion. The investigation of a 1970 shooting of a Guardia Nacional subordinate has been assigned to a regular prosecutor, and now the Public Ministry has reopened the case of the 1983 slaying of Félix Antonio Serrano, also a soldier, at Fort Amador. Delgado was provisionally acquitted of participation in that crime in a prior investigation, but apparently some new evidence has surfaced.

Ricky Traad doesn't get bail after all

The admiral remains in the brig. Former PanCanal pilot and after that National Maritime Service "vice admiral" Ricardo Traad Porras was originally busted for drug trafficking, theft and money laundering in the case of the Perseus V, which the US Coast Guard busted with two tons of cocaine and a load of scrap metal aboard and turned over to its Panamanian counterpart with half of the drugs and the scrap still aboard. Both of those cargoes disappeared and Torrijos appointee Traad was living well above any legitimate means that he could demonstrate. Traad was arrested and ultimately the National Maritime Service was abolished by a merger that created the National Aeronaval Service. There followed a series of prosecution court defeats wherein the most serious charges against Traad were dropped, leaving only a case about him selling the scrap in Mexico and pocketing the proceeds. Prosecutors then began a case about inexplicable enrichment while in public office, but last February Fourth Penal Judge Silverio Rodríguez granted Traad bail while those matters were still pending. Prosecutors appealed and Traad remained in detention. Now the Second Superior Tribunal has made a 2-1 ruling reversing the trial court, holding that what's involved here is a drug case for which bail is not allowed.

The Russians are here

Wouldn't you know that some Zonians of the far-right kind, including Zonelink czar Robert Askew, are in a tizzy about it. A Russian warship, the sub-chasing destroyer Admiral Chabanenko, called at Rodman for a four-day visit after participating in joint Caribbean maneuvers with the Venezuelan Navy. Panama's growing little Russian community --- which now has its own Russian-language newspaper --- is celebrating with concerts and other welcoming events. There is no word yet on whether the ship's presence has affected the activities of the drug cartels' dope smuggling submarines. Russia is not and will not be a major player in and around Latin America --- it won't have the commercial ties that China has, and it won't be rebuilding the political networks that the Soviet Union had during the Cold War. However, in the wake of US military alliances with Georgia, the Ukraine and other countries close to Russia, Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin are making a reciprocal display of friendship with Latin American countries that are estranged from their historic ally the United States. The underlying political calculations in this game may change when there's a new administration in Washington, and in any case Russia is too poor and too far away to challenge the US position in this region.

Better armed criminals

December began with a wave of kidnappings, gangland murders in upscale neighborhoods, shootouts in the slums and several high profile robberies (including one of an armored car, in which a rocket launcher was used). But maybe the most important "garden variety" crime story is the one that promises more of the same. On December 6 burglars --- so it was reported in La Prensa, although one wonders about an inside job --- forced their way into a La Cresta gun shop and took 38 handguns, ammunition and business records.

Carjackings way up

One never knows about the Panamanian government's crime figures, which are not regularly released and over the years have been manipulated for political purposes. But the Judicial Investigation Directorate (DIJ) is reporting that carjackings --- auto thefts carried out by means of violence or threats --- are up from 31 in 2007 to 251 so far in 2008. That's an increase of some 700 percent.

Just what every inmate needs

Forget about shivs and toothbrush handles with razor blades embedded in them --- in La Joyita Penitentiary the prison gangs are properly armed. As in a Mini Uzi submachine gun, along with 13 rounds, found among the belongings of an escaped inmate in a November 18 shakedown at the prison. The warden, Luis Gordon, says that he suspects that it got there by way of an act of corruption by one or more of the guards.

New incentives for cops

The Torrijos administration has failed in its promise to put 2,000 new cops on the streets this year, having been able to recruit only about one-third of that number. So now there are new incentives, the president announced at a November 22 ceremony announcing the identities of the new commanders of his militarized law enforcement agencies. There will be a special cops-only supermarket --- what's an "army in all but name" without a PX? --- and new health insurance benefits.

Fung out as Colon bombero chief

On November 19 Felipe Fung Soto was removed as chief of Colon's Cuerpo de Bomberos. The decision was made by a 7-3 vote of the Directors Council, but Fung says it was illegal and he will appeal to the Supreme Court.

Grand Rabbi Sión Levy dies in Israel

Grand Rabbi Sión Levy, who had served as spiritual leader of the Orthodox Jewish Congregation Shevet Ahim since 1951 and was the generally acknowledged principal leader of Panama's Jewish community until his return to his native Israel earlier this year, died of a cardiac arrest on November 23. He had been in a deteriorating state of health. Born at a Hadassah hospital in what was then the British-ruled Palestine Mandate, Levy fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and immigrated to Panama to take over a congregation of about 100 families. From that position he oversaw the growth of Panama's Jewish Orthodox community and the creation of many of this country's Jewish institutions for 57 years.

No Christmas tree burns in Panama City

Panama's Cuerpo de Bomberos Zone 1 --- the fire department that covers Panama City --- has banned Christmas tree burning celebrations this year. The department said that people should dispose of trees like any other household waste, but that any burning of trees creates an unacceptable hazard that won't be tolerated. There is no word yet from the city's sanitation department about special rules for collecting trees after Christmas.

Move to hire more environmental prosecutors

The National Assembly is considering a proposal, which comes out of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, to create four new posts for environmental prosecutors. With an upsurge in developments that with or without the support of public officials flout our environmental laws, there has been a great proliferation of complaints and lawsuits filed under these statutes.

Collection to pay the mayor's fine

San Miguelito Mayor Héctor Valdés Carrasquilla has been fined two months' salary for disobeying a court order to provide information on the city's dealings with Máximo Haddad's notorious PYCSA construction company to Kevin Harrington, the court appointed receiver for PYCSA. The national government has been ignoring the receivership and Harrington's requests for information under the Transparency Law, but apparently complied when a court ordered it to turn over certain data he had requested. Not so the mayor, who first pleaded that the city doesn't do construction permits, then when a court found otherwise, fought for another year about whether the city has a duty to disclose the documents exonerating PYCSA of the duty to pay the fees for these and other taxes, and when finally ordered to hand over the information failed to do so. The mayor is appealing the decision and the fine and there is a collection being made among supporters of his PRD administration to pay the $6,000 the judge ordered him to pay.

New frog species

Actually, when they do the DNA analysis, compare it to other species and assign it a place on the amphibian family tree, they'll probably find that in human terms the frog is quite ancient. But scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the University of Utah, the University of Miami and El Valle's El Nispero Zoo have discovered a large (so far they found an 8.7-inch long specimen) reddish and green arboreal frog in the El Valle and Cerro Campana area. Once they have published their findings, the scientists will come up with a name for the critter.