Que se excluya a La Estrella
y El Siglo de la Lista Clinton

por el Comité Ejecutivo Nacional del Partido Revolucionario Democrático

El Partido Revolucionario Democrático (PRD) considerando que durante 2016, Panamá ha sido señalada y acusada por una serie de eventos que atentan contra empresas y ciudadanos de este país, afectando nuestra imagen y soberanía, expresa la siguiente posición:

Observamos con indignación que la Oficina de Control de Activos en el Extranjero del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos (OFAC por sus siglas en inglés) incluya en la llamada Lista Clinton a grupos empresariales panameños sin que medie evidencia alguna.

Se acusa a estos grupos de estar involucrados en lavado de dinero, pero desde el pasado cinco de mayo cuando se hizo el anuncio, ninguna entidad oficial norteamericana ha presentado, ni en Panamá ni en Estados Unidos, una sola prueba que corrobore la existencia del hecho punible.

El pasado 15 de noviembre el Ministerio Público de Panamá concluyó que “los medios de justificación acumulados no son suficientes para comprobar el o los hechos punibles investigados”, en tanto que con anterioridad la Fiscalía General de la hermana república de Colombia consignó la no existencia de pruebas contra los grupos en cuestión, después de siete largos años de investigación.

La medida norteamericana ha forzado la venta de activos bajo el criterio de que “el futuro de esas empresas depende de su dueño”, tal cual lo ha dicho de manera injerente el señor John Feely, embajador de Estados Unidos en Panamá. Esta situación ha violentado los derechos humanos de miles de panameños, tras provocar su desestabilización laboral; afectando la libertad de expresión y atentado contra nuestro patrimonio histórico.

Nada de ello es coherente con los valores morales y la larga tradición de respeto al Derecho y a la Democracia, que Estados Unidos preconiza ante el mundo.

Para el PRD se trata de una flagrante violación al Derecho Internacional, al debido proceso, y de una medida administrativa unilateral de extraterritorialidad mediante la cual Estados Unidos viola nuestra soberanía y atenta contra los intereses legítimos de nuestro ordenamiento jurídico.

Estados Unidos ha puesto en juego la sobrevivencia de dos importantes diarios de la localidad: El Siglo y La Estrella de Panamá, que representan una importante cuota en el equilibrio de la opinión pública panameña, portadores significativos de la libertad de expresión.

Es inadmisible que esos periódicos estén condenados a desaparecer el próximo mes de enero, afectando un importante factor en el pluralismo y la independencia de la opinión pública de Panamá.

En medio de esta situación, el PRD lamenta profundamente, no solo el estado de indefensión en que han quedado estas empresas, sino la complicidad oficial con una medida carente de pruebas, en lo que puede constituir un mensaje amargo y frustrante para el empresariado nacional, porque sin haberle exigido a Estados Unidos las evidencias que demuestren el delito, nuestras autoridades parecen dar por sentada la veracidad de la acusación.

El PRD demanda que el Estado panameño asuma la defensa de sus ciudadanos con una posición enérgica y digna, le exija a ese país que cese esta agresión contra las empresas panameñas, y que se excluya de manera inmediata a los diarios La Estrella de Panamá y El Siglo de la llamada Lista Clinton.

Para el PRD está en juego el respeto que merece Panamá, porque si no encaramos estos hechos como Nación, a futuro ningún ciudadano ni ninguna empresa estará a salvo de este tipo de transgresiones.

Resulta inaceptable que el gobierno asuma una posición complaciente ante estos hechos y que acoja la posición del embajador Feely de vender estas empresas, mientras la aprehensión y el miedo se apoderan de empresarios nacionales porque no encuentran respaldo en quien, por mandato constitucional, debe ser garantía de sus esfuerzos.

El PRD advierte que desde principios de este año, Panamá ha sido señalada como paraíso fiscal en lo que bien puede considerarse como una agresión a nuestra economía, lo cual está generando una merma al crecimiento económico del país.

En ese escenario figuran negocios que son considerados ilegales cuando se ejercen fuera de los territorios de los países que nos han señalado, pero que gozan de todas las ventajas cuando son sus nacionales quienes los desarrollan.

El Partido Revolucionario Democrático se adhiere a todas las organizaciones y gremios del país que se han pronunciado sobre estos aspectos, con el propósito de impedir que se violenten los derechos de la Nación. Si no hay autoridad que asuma una posición digna, entonces a los ciudadanos nos asiste reclamar la valía de nuestros derechos y valores; la sociedad civil, los gremios empresariales, los sindicatos, los partidos políticos y las organizaciones populares debemos asumir ese rol.

A Panamá le tomó casi un siglo consolidar su independencia y hacer efectiva su soberanía, para ejercerla mediante un régimen democrático y jurídico que beneficiara a todos sus ciudadanos y a todos aquellos que residen en su territorio.

Los panameños hemos empeñado grandes esfuerzos en esa dirección, hasta convertirnos en uno de los países de mayor crecimiento en la región; con enormes desafíos y metas por cumplir pero admirados y reconocidos en el concierto de las naciones por la forma como despuntamos en este siglo, por la manera respetuosa como concebimos las relaciones internacionales y por la decisión de apuntalarlas.

Nada debe afectar ese camino, nada debe enturbiar nuestra decisión y deseos de perfeccionar la Democracia; de hacer más transparente la gestión, pero sobre todo más independiente a nuestro país, exigiendo el respeto que merece, sin que sea vulnerada nuestra dignidad como Nación.

~ ~ ~

Estos anuncios son interactivos. Toque en ellos para seguir a las páginas de web

El Siglo and La Estrella journalists demanding their newspapers’ exclusion from the Clinton List. La Estrella video on YouTube.

Panama and the undue pressures of larger countries

The Republic of Panama finds itself in the unusual and unenviable position of having the United States government insist that two of the nation’s mass circulation newspapers, one of them among Latin America’s oldest, must be sold. Washington and its ambassador here say that it’s about money laundering, but they refuse to divulge one shred of evidence about that and argue in court that they don’t have to and that those from whom they are trying to strip La Estrella and El Siglo have no recourse under the law. Such are the totalitarian perversions of the “War on Drugs.”

This is a bundle of many issues, involving many compelling rights and principles that are not absolute. The Nuremberg Tribunal found that Julius Streicher possessed no freedom of the press sufficient to excuse his use of Der Sturmer to incite genocide. Decades later, another international court ruled much the same in the case of radio journalists who encouraged and directed the Rwandan genocide. On the opposite extreme the current Panamanian administration jails Okke Ornstein for his truthful reports about politically connected predatory hustlers who were working Panama.

Really, though, freedom of the press, and even due process of law, are side issues in the Grupo El Siglo – Estrella (GESE) case. The critical issue for Panama is whether it’s tolerable for Panama to permit a foreign power to dictate who can or cannot own and operate a mass communications medium in Panama. It’s not an entirely new issue, given the decades of US blacklisting of Panamanian journalists in the Cold War, a practice that never definitively ended with that period. But the present US assertion of a prerogative to vet the ownership of Panama’s media goes several steps beyond and if accepted would subject an entire nation to foreign mind control. Panama, its institutions and its people should never accept this.

Washington’s demand is even more galling because the United States is harboring the fugitive Ricardo Martinelli and probably several other wanted members of his entourage as well.

However, let’s not allow old nationalist resentments against the superpower that was once colonial occupier of part of Panama and for a shorter period of time established a protectorate over all of Panama make us oblivious or hypocritical. Panama faces a variety of pressures from several powers much bigger than itself and each of these should be addressed separately on its own merits.

The Brazilian government and several of Brazil’s public figures lent assistance to corrupt activities in Panama by the Norberto Odebrecht construction company. These shady practices certainly involved the laundering of bribe money and the hiding of evidence from Brazilian authorities here. They probably also involved the bribery of Panamanian public officials and the rigging of bidding procedures to secure Panamanian government contracts for Odebrecht. Now the widespread corruption that has been the norm in Brazil is under attack there, and Panamanian authorities protect themselves or members of this country’s political, financial and legal elites by finding ways not to cooperate with Brazilian prosecutors and by passing a law saying that the findings of Brazilian courts may not be taken into account in Panamanian government contracting. Brazilian interference in Panama’s affairs imposed Odebrecht’s thuggish corporate culture upon us. The rejection of pleas for help from those Brazilians trying to fight that corrupt culture is a most pernicious assertion of fake nationalism.

China has for decades insisted that Panama drop its formal and friendly relations with Taiwan. The geopolitics of the Asian pecking order and China’s economic “pivot” toward Latin America might elevate this insistence. To Beijing, Taiwan is a rebellious part of China and Panama’s recognition of it is interference in Chinese affairs. To Panamanians, Taiwan is an old and loyal friend and no third country has a right to tell us who can or can’t be our friends. But ways have been found around that impasse and Panama’s economic relations with China are stronger than ever despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

France has put Panama on a financial blacklist because too many wealthy French citizens evade taxes and either park their money here or conceal it through chains of shell corporations designed by Panamanian law firms. France is not the only country making trouble for Panama’s financial institutions over complaints like this, and if President Varela protests that we have made international agreements to minimize such things, the Panama Papers tell us that Varela’s erstwhile right-hand man was engaged in the egregious flouting of such agreements. Panama has passed a laughable law to retaliate against the French. With them, and with the rest of the world, Panama should settle on sincere and serious terms. This will mean abandonment of some lucrative businesses that have allowed a few Panamanians to live very well, but economic relations are always give and take affairs if they are to be sustainable.

Panama is not about to bomb France, invade Brazil or wreck the Chinese economy. Varela would be well advise to keep his hands off of machetes while talking about the United States. We are a small country. But we are a sovereign country that should not readily endure all insults. Now is the time for Panamanians and our government to resist a US effort to control our news media, as best we can given our limited power and resources.

Human Rights Day

preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – December 10, 1948

Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

See the entire document here.

Bear in mind…

~ ~ ~

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information.

A truth about ‘post-truth’

by David D. Judson — Stratfor

Nearly a month has passed since American voters gave the presidency, seemingly against all odds, to Donald Trump. And for nearly a month a global chorus of pundits, pollsters and media prophets have asked: How did just about everyone get it wrong? Amid the hand-wringing, the list of culprits is long: Skewed models of voter bases. The demise of landline telephones. Underestimates of “lapsed voters.” The evolution of game-changing social media. Wishful thinking.

In the stream of post-election postmortems on journalism’s performance, “post-truth” is the handiest of explanations in a campaign season that took fibs and fabrication to a new level. The Oxford English Dictionary has declared “post-truth” its International Word of the Year. A Google search on the term yields some 240 million results. Layer what the candidates said against the “fake news” manufactured on Facebook and elsewhere and, for some, this is all but a civilizational threat.

But the term is actually older than we think. It was coined back in 2004 by the author Ralph Keyes. It took a while, but now it has transformed into a new meme alive in the media ecosystem. It is an illustrative case study of how memes emerge and dominate discourse, refracting perceptions of political reality.

But first, a bit of background. The term “meme,” devised in 1976 by sociologist Richard Dawkins from the Greek “mimema,” or “something imitated,” was originally used to describe patterns of belief that spread vertically through cultural inheritance (from parents, for example) or horizontally through cultural acquisition (as in film or media). Dawkins’ point was that memes act much like genes, carrying attributes of beliefs and values between individuals and across generations. It is even a field of academic study known as “memetics.”

The best of intentions

Today the term meme is more popularly applied to videos, a bit of text, a viral tweet, becoming a fixture, a short-lived canon if you will, in social media-driven consciousness. “Post truth” is just one in a long line of them.

Which is not to be dismissive of the underlying issue of partisans planting fabrications into the echo chamber of partisan news media. I share the alarm at the speed with which misleading charges or downright falsehoods can spread through the Twittersphere. And it’s not just an evil embedded in presidential campaigns. The new media age has many dark sides. I worry about “covert influence” that state intelligence agencies — and not just Russia’s — can and do spread. Social media as a tool of terrorist recruitment is a real threat. While writing this column, I chanced across the news that Facebook (inadvertently I’m sure) enabled a far-right group in Germany to publish the names and addresses of prominent Jews, Jewish-owned businesses and Jewish institutions on a map of Berlin to mark the 78th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Still, you’d think from the post-truth discussion that darkness was descending to devour an age of veracity, candor and honesty in our public discourse. The assault on authenticity, however, isn’t anything new. The cry “Remember the Maine” animated the Spanish-American War of 1898 with false claims. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a complete sham, was first published in Moscow in 1903 and its lies are still disseminated, and believed, throughout the world. The “missile gap” of the 1950s is closer in history but no less untrue. Many readers are old enough to remember the misleading Vietnam body counts of the 1960s. Or think of Saddam Hussein’s purported weapons of mass destruction and a war that rages on some 13 years later.

Malicious intent, of course, is at work in the willful propagation of falsehood. But the narrative rivers of the media world all too often ignore the good or evil of their tributaries. Said differently, forest fires spread faster by creating their own wind; more often than not, the oxygen of the mainstream media is a meme or something like it. And it is often carried forward by journalists with the best of intentions.

Tying reality to the soil

I’ve written before that this propagation lies at the heart of the difference between journalism and intelligence, so I won’t belabor the point again. But a few examples are worth examining. The Arab Spring: It never really existed, and we said as much. The intractable clash between the United States and Iran: Our forecast of rapprochement was widely met with skepticism, but then it came true. The inexorable rise of China: It’s not inexorable, and we write about this frequently. The new Cold War: It’s not a good analogy to the current standoff between Russia and the West. The “ever-closer” European Union? Well, no one’s making that argument now. But when we first challenged it years ago, we were considered heathens.

And we’re still heathens. As to the specifics of this election cycle, we’re not going to run a victory lap; we didn’t forecast the outcome because we don’t forecast elections. But we do analyze the global dynamics at play in elections, including rising nationalism, nativism and trade protectionism in the West — themes that echoed throughout the presidential campaign. For us, the overarching issue is not how Trump vanquished Hillary Clinton. It’s how the United States will behave under these new circumstances, which are unreadable to international leaders, elites and publics — but not to us.

Can we expand our methodology to North America? Yes, we can and we will. But we won’t start doing it with existing narrative or memes. The work of geopolitics, one sage of the craft has said, “rids politics of arid theory and senseless phrases” by tying “permanent reality to the soil.” So we will start by looking at the map.

We are not in an era of post-truth. We are in an era of post-meme, at least at Stratfor. And challenging memes, I’ve come to be believe, is at the heart of what Stratfor does.

Questions? Concerns? Drop me a line.

David Judson
Editor-in-Chief
djudson@stratfor.com

A truth about ‘post-truth’ is republished with permission of Stratfor.

~ ~ ~

These announcements are interactive. Click on them for more information.