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Latest From Panama : President Martinelli Decides to Clean Up Colon
By Matt Atlee
Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli announced this week that he plans to make huge improvements to the city of Colon – an unusual idea as Colon has long been known as not only the most dangerous city in Panama, but one of the most dangerous in all of Latin America.
Though Colon is a dangerous city for crime, it’s also, ironically, one of the wealthiest cites in Latin America because of its huge “Free Zone” which is located right at the mouth of the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. Millions and millions of dollars in products pass through the Colon Free Zone every year, and the traders in the Zone are some of the wealthiest people in Panama. So Colon is a city of great contrasts between rich traders and poor locals. Fundamentally changing Colon for the better seems impossible. No one has been able to do it up until today, yet President Martinelli has decided to take up the seemingly impossible challenge of improving the city of Colon. During his visit to Colon last week he said that the city will be “the most beautiful city in the Americas”. That would be like the U.S. President saying Philadelphia will be the friendliest city in the Americas.
Martinelli has plans to build an international airport in Colon, a new hospital and, most importantly and controversially, new housing on the outskirts of Colon for people who are now living in the city center. Normally, the first step in renovating a Panamanian city is to move the poor from the center to the periphery of the city where there is a lack of water and roads. This has been happening for years in Panama City and to some extent, it’s already happening in Colon.
It’s important to note that Colon’s City Center was recently singled out by the World Monuments Fund for historic preservation. Physically, Colon could be a pretty city, but the city is falling apart; whole sections need to be condemned.
The Panamanian jury in the murder trial of U.S. expat Debra Ann Ridgley has returned an innocent verdict after a one day trial. Debra Ann Ridgley was arrested after being implicated in the murder of another U.S. expat, Toni Grossi Abrams, who was violently murdered in her El Cangrejo apartment in April 2007. Ridgley lived with Abrams along with two young Colombian men. Immediately after the body of Abrams was discovered in a soccer field, the two Colombians fled Panama to Colombia and Ridgley was arrested by the Panamanian police and locked up for two years awaiting trial. Now that she has been found innocent, she can leave Panama for her home in Pennsylvania. One of the Colombian men who lived with Abrams and Ridgley is now in custody and has confessed to committing the murder as well as telling police that Debra Ann Ridgley was not directly involved in Abrams death.
 One of the former puppet presidents of Panama, Manuel Solís Palma, died this past week. Solís Palma was one of the presidents during the last months of the Noriega dictatorship – the presidents no one can remember. He was Education Minister before becoming President of the Republic. Interestingly, Solís Palma was not a long time supporter of the PRD or the military dictatorships; in fact, when the military came to power in 1968, Solís Palma was a member of the opposition. He was such a strong opponent of the dictatorship that he was eventually sent into exile for many years. He then returned to Panama and worked for the opposition until finally deciding to join the military government where he very quickly became president. When a former president dies in Panama there is normally national day of mourning – everyone gets the day off. The Martinelli government has decided not to call a national day of mourning for Solís Palma.
The Panamanian National Assembly approved a new law this past week which would increase the maximum sentence a person can receive for committing a crime: the maximum penalty is now 50 years; that’s up from 35 years. The longer sentences are meant to stop crimes like murder, drug-trafficking, human trafficking, assassination, kidnapping, ect. The law will also increase sentences for crimes like manslaughter from 3 to 6 years. There is fear that the increased sentences will overcrowd the already overcrowded prisons in Panama.
A U.S. expat couple who were celebrating their wedding anniversary at Playa Blanca Resort was shot at while driving their rented car. Apparently, their car was mistaken for a money transport car and they were shot at from a car that pulled up alongside them while they were innocently driving down the road. One of the expats was shot in the head and the other in the arm and leg. Both are in Santo Thomas hospital and seem to be in stable condition.
The number of tourists coming to Panama this year is set to match last year which was the largest on record: 1.6 million tourists. In the first half of 2009, the number of tourists coming to Panama dropped to 900,000, but since July the numbers have picked up again with many tourists finding Panama an inexpensive alternative to other destinations. Early in the year, many tourists were afraid to travel abroad because of the influenza scare.
Panamanian fuel prices are set to go up 11 to 15 cents per gallon. Fuel prices in Panama are set twice a month. All of Panama’s fuel is imported; the refinery in Colon was shut down a couple of year’s ago and so most of Panama’s fuel is refined in the U.S. A number of companies such as Spain’s Tecnicas Reunidas and Venezuela’s Petróleos have talked about building a refinery in Panama.
There’s fear in Colombia and countries that border Colombia that many of the right-wing militias that disbanded in 2006 are reforming along Colombia’s borders with Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. Colombia’s National Reparations and Reconciliation Chairman, Eduardo Pizarro, reported that about 10% of the former paramilitary members are regrouping into new units. He said that most of the units are operating along Colombia’s border regions. The fear is that as Colombia increases security within its own borders, military groups formed in Colombia will begin operations in surrounding countries. This dynamic is known as the “balloon effect”: squeeze the balloon in one place and the air will expand beyond your grip.
Traditionally, Panamanians do not like spicy food, but farmers in the Baru region of Chiriqui have decided to stop growing bananas and begin cultivating hot peppers. With the collapse of banana production in Panama, farmers are moving into hot peppers which are selling for about $33 per quintal (100 pounds).
Bank deposits in Panama grew by 11.5 % from August 2008 to 2009. Even with the global economic crisis, Panama continues to experience moderate growth.
Panama has increased its investment in the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) by $55 million; in 2008, Panama invested $170 million in CAF. CAF is an organization that was founded in 1970 in Caracas, Venezuela and its objective is to pull financial capital from the world markets to Latin America. In Panama, CAF is currently financing the Panama Canal Expansion Program, the Highway Rehabilitation and Improvement Program, the Metro Pre-investment study, and support for the Banco Nacional de Panama. In the future CAF will be working with Panama in the expansion of the national electricity sector, in social infrastructure projects and water, sewerage, and sanitation, among others. CAF has committed to making $1 billion available to Panama. CAF has already provided Panama with $900 million in investment capital.
Written By Matt Atlee
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