Dr. Jonathan Ordiaz, a dentist on the hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) performs dental work for a Panamanian woman in Colon. The Comfort is a four-month humanitarian and civic assistance mission to Latin America and the Caribbean. Photo by Army Sergeant Jeremy Campbell

Did Martinelli figure that since he lost in the indigenous comarcas but still won big across the country that it doesn't matter? Surely he must realize two things about the indigenous vote this time:

1) The rates of abstention, spoiled ballots and blank ballots were highest of all in the comarcas and were as much a factor as all those envelopes full of money that Torrijos passed out in the PRD wins there; and

2) The very existence of indigenous land rights outside the comarcas is and has been under concerted attack by the PRD and Balbina didn't do nearly so well in the unprotected indigenous communities.

Is Martinelli planning to pick up where Torrijos took off and expel rural communities to make way for strip mines, hydroelectric dams, exclusive luxury resorts and other corporate projects? That would make for a short honeymoon.

Does Martinelli figure that he owes something to Alba, and is he planning to pay off people whom he owes by rewarding them with political fiefdoms? Dividing spoils like that may keep the components of a coalition happy, but it really isn't any way to run an effective government.

We shall see, starting on July 1, Panama's new Inauguration Day.

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The digging is proceeding as scheduled but the bidding process on the most expensive part, the design and construction of the locks --- for which there will be two separate contracts --- has been delayed a few times.

In Spain, reports apparently relying on sources among some of the Spanish companies that are involved in the bidding process suggest that the reason for the delay is political, that the $5.25 billion price tag on the expansion job is more than one-third too low. But the Panama Canal Authority vigorously denies this, and says that the expansion job will be completed at the projected price.

There are three consortia in the running, with Spanish construction companies in two of them. But the ACP says that nobody knows what the bids will be because the bid opening hasn't happened. Nevertheless, the folks at the Administration Building in Balboa assure us that somehow they know, and that the bids will be within budget.

Martinelli was Minister of Canal Affairs during the Moscoso administration and set up much of the canal's current opaque information regime in that capacity, but he was out of office for the canal expansion referendum campaign. At that time he said that he supported the "yes" side, even though he thought the Torrijos administration was terrible and might mess certain things up. The bids are now scheduled to be opened in July and if they come in over budget that will be an issue for his administration to address.

(Or will it? The PRD is trying to hang onto virtually all government jobs and contracts after its crushing defeat at the polls, through purported civil service reforms and otherwise. Might PRD appointees on the ACP board try to play games with the canal expansion contracts? I'd expect that from the PRD, but not as much from the ACP. The banking, construction industry and allied professional services people who dominate the ACP board and the incoming Ministry of Canal Affairs will surely be taken care of as a class at the subcontracting and financing levels. There are lots of conflicts of interest in this expansion. However, the ACP is usually not quite so crude as the Torrijos administration.)

Anyway, watch for Martinelli to lament the games that were played on someone else's shift and then press ahead with a higher priced canal expansion job.