Martinelli and the Venes

So what's the real deal with Martinelli and Chávez?
by Eric Jackson

Ricardo Martinelli is an outspoken man of the right. Hugo Chávez is an outspoken man of the left. Both were elected as presidents of their respective countries by comfortable margins. Both make comments about other leaders and governments in the region that are diplomatically unusual. Both have been alleged to be crazy, with Martinelli making light of it with a winning campaign slogan, Chávez just ignoring the claims and despite their sometimes unorthodox behaviors neither man showing any signs of true derangement.

Note that during the Panamanian election campaign, Martinelli supporters made specious allegations about how Venezuela was supporting his opponent, Balbina Herrera. Herrera and the Venezuelan government denied it, and no proofs were ever offered to back the charge.

So, was Venezuela interfering in Panamanian affairs? There's not a simple answer.

During the 2006 Panama Canal expansion referendum Chávez sided with Martinelli, the PRD and the banking, construction and shipping industries by praising the third locks proposal, stopping just short of saying the words "Vote Yes." A lot of Panamanian leftists who would ordinarily side with the Venezuelan president were annoyed with him about that and thought it boorish of Chávez to comment on the matter.

Then there are Panama's Bolivarian Clubs (or Bolivarian Circles if you care to translate it that way). There may be three dozen or so of these, they espouse leftist politics and they are for the political and economic integration of the Bolivarian republics --- Panama, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia --- in particular and Latin America in general. It's fair enough to say that they are a Hugo Chávez cheering section but stretching it a bit to say that they are the Venezuelan president's political organization within Panama because they are not a distinct political force as such in either electoral or extra-parliamentary contests. This crowd was certainly not in Balbina Herrera's corner in last May's elections.

There is MEBO, the Movimiento Estudiantil Bolivariano, a relatively minor faction of the fractious student left.

While traveling to Europe in September, Martinelli gave an interview to the Italian daily Il Giornale, and said about Latin America's leftist presidents that: "Theirs is pure demagogic populism. They make great speeches to the masses and fill their heads with falsehoods, but they do nothing, create no jobs and undertake no reforms, attacking private property to gain consensus." Venezuela's ambassador in Panama, Jorge Luis Durán, dismissed it as a matter of Martinelli "having no knowledge of what is happening in Venezuela."

Later, on September 25, the counselor at the Venezuela Embassy, José Guerrero, at the invitation of some of the representantes who are members of the body, attended a meeting of the Los Santos Provincial Council. He talked about cultural and economic exchanges between his country and communities in the province. Some local media noticed, and Panama's foreign ministry called the Venezuelan ambassador in to talk about it. Although the incident got widespread international coverage and was built up in some quarters as a big confrontation between the Martinelli and Chávez administrations, essentially the government here just called the ambassador in and told him that it wanted to know in advance about Venezuelan diplomats' planned meetings with Panamanian local government officials, and about the subjects to be raised in such meetings.

After that flap, there arose the controversial announcement about US naval bases --- or Panamanian naval bases that US forces might use for anti-drug operations, depending on which spin one cares to believe --- on the Pacific coasts of Veraguas and Darien. The Venezuelan Embassy then participated in a meeting with various activists at the University of Panama, and announced that it would back the establishment of a "peace base" in Panama.

So how bad are the ideological tensions between Panama and Venezuela? Consider that Venezuela is the best customer for the Colon Free Zone, which is the centerpiece of Panama's crucial import/export industry. Consider also that Panama gets most of its oil from Venezuela. The business ties set the limits for the political dart-throwing.

The next interesting test of Panamanian-Venezuela relations is whether the Martinelli administration will formally join the Caracas-sponsored Petrocaribe alliance. Panama's wouldn't be the only conservative government in the alliance if the president decides to join. So why might he do so? Membership carries with it a small but significant break in the prices we pay for fuel.

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