Dear Panama E-Letter Subscribers:
Latest From Panama – Costa Rican Political Corruption And Panama’s Economy Picks Up
By Matt Atlee
Former Costa Rican President Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (1990-94) was found guilty this week of corruption charges and sentenced to 5 years in jail. Calderon is charged with receiving kickbacks worth $540,000 dollars from the Costa Rican Social Security system. The Social Security director during Calderon’s presidency, Eliseo Vargas, was also given 5 years, Another former Costa Rican president, Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002), will also face trial for receiving kickbacks while president; both former presidents are members of the Social Christian Unity Party (Partido de Unidad Social Cristiana). A third former president Jose Maria Fiqueres of the PLN (Partido Liberación Nacional) has also been investigated for corruption, but no charges have been brought against him to date.
Costa Rican democracy, which historically has been the strongest democracy in all of Latin America, was tarnished in the 1990s and early 2000s because of a series of very bad presidents. The first of these very bad presidents was Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier (1990-94) and the last was Abel Pacheco (2002-2006); in between you had Jose Maria Fiqueres (1994-98) and Miguel Angel Rodríguez (1998-2002). The damage all four presidents inflicted to Costa Rican democracy was due to the high levels of corruption and incompetence during their administrations. Public disgust and then indifference has led to lower voter turnout in Costa Rica and a general feeling that the country’s political class has not lived up to its sterling international image.
The 1990s was the decade that most Central American countries began the process of globalizing their economies and as a result a lot of hot foreign money poured into Costa Rica which led to greater corruption and bad politics. The conviction of Calderon this week is seen as a first step in wringing out the corruption among Costa Rica’s political class. The Costa Rican judiciary sent a strong anti-corruption message to the executive branch of government this week. The conviction of Calderon will send a signal beyond Costa Rica to neighboring countries where a number of former presidents (Nicaragua and Panama) may be indicted on corruption charges – look for a domino effect as governments get tough on political corruption as both a way to create greater political stability and attract outside investment.
Two years ago a terrible murder in Panama City which took the life of Staten Island socialite, Toni Grossi-Adams, stunned the expatriate community of Panama. One of the accused in the case is an American woman from Pittsburgh, Pa., Debra Ann Ridgley, who has not been tried for the crime – she remains in a Panamanian prison. She has pleaded innocent to the crime. Her accomplices in the murder were two Colombian men Camilio Castro Cuenu, whose whereabouts are unknown, and Didier Osorio who is now in custody in Colombia. Didier has confessed to being part of the murder and attempted cover up.
The murder which occurred in April of 2007 in the El Cangrejo District of Panama City was quickly solved when a taxi cab driver, who picked up the three accused killers and drove them to a field, became concerned when he saw the three try and burn a large bag which unbeknownst to him contained the body of Toni Grossi-Adams. The taxi cab driver informed police of the incident when the body was discovered the next day near a soccer field. The two Colombians escaped Panama, but Debra Ann Ridgley, who lived with Toni Grossi-Adams, was arrested by Panamanian police.
Panamanian Minister of Economy and Finance, Alberto Vallarino, presented a draft bill to the National Assembly that addresses the question of Rights of Possession along coastal areas. The legal status of Rights of Possession has been a huge issue in Panama, especially in the Bocas del Toro region of Panama where many foreigners bought land that was zoned Rights of Possession rather than titled land. Of course, Vallarino is interested in taxing land, especially if it’s titled land. The draft bill creates the new position of vice-ministry of Land who will be responsible for sorting out questions of titled and Rights of Possession land.
The new director of Social Security, Guillermo Saez-Llorens, reported that social security will have a $42 million dollar surplus this year. The collection of additional revenue is credited for the year end surplus.
 Theater has never been a big part of Panamanian cultural life, but the Theater Guild of Ancon has always been an active force in Panamanian English-speaking theater. The Guild will be offering a 10-day run of David Mamet’s 1982 play Glengarry Glen Ross. The play will run from October 7th to the 17th.
The National Executive Committee of Panama’s largest political party, the PRD, resigned this week. The party will hold elections in the near future to pick new leadership. The party wants to reorganize itself after its huge losses in the May 2009 elections.
Strangely, the Panamanian embassy in Israel was attacked. Apparently, the attackers broke down the door of the embassy, destroyed a security camera and threw a bunch of papers around but didn’t take anything of value, though the embassy had a safe that was filled with cash. Israeli police think the attack is linked to Panamanian government cooperation in stopping a shipment of 108 kilos of cocaine that was enroute from Panama to Israeli.
An American ethanol company named Ethnergy International Inc. is interested in building an ethanol plant in Panama. The plan for the proposed plant was delivered to vice-minister of Foreign Trade, Jose Domingo Arias.
Panama is interested in signing a Free Trade Agreement with Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. Panama would like trade access to the European market.
Panama is again exporting beef to Mexico: on September 17th licenses to export beef to Mexico were reactivated for a period of two years. Panama’s beef exports to Mexico fell dramatically in the first half of 2009; the hope is that with reactivation of the export licenses Panamanian beef exports will pick up. The overall feeling right now about the Panamanian economy is that it is slowly picking up and that the worst of the recession has passed.
Written By Matt Atlee
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