Larry's Central American Travels

More Summer Fun In Panama

The Sometimes Strange World I Live In

Yes, sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction, to wit:

-  I reported in an earlier posting (4 Feb.) the foiled plot to kidnap the Panamanian president.  It was particularly alarming that two of the culprits were members of the president's personal security force.  You will be glad to know that last week, when President Ricardo Martinelli traveled to a cabinet meeting held in the city of Penonome (in central Panama), his personal security detail consisted of four Israeli security agents.   Problem solved ...Next!

-  Despite opposition from prosecutors and representatives of the judiciary, the National Assembly did approve the bill that reduces from 14 to 12 years the age of criminal responsibility of minors.  Part of a major anti-crime initiative, the bill also establishes for the first time a minimum sentence.  The minimum sentence is six years.  Ouch!

My Latest Video Is A Winner (Yes, I Do Say So Myself)

My latest video is another celebration of the beautiful children of Panama, and I think it is my best one yet.  You can view "The Children's Faces" by clicking the picture below.  Enjoy!

 

Panama's School System

The Minister of Education, facing the threat of a teachers' strike at the beginning of classes in March, issued a statement "appealing to the conscience of teachers because of the damage they can do to students".  Last year's school opening was delayed several weeks due to a teachers' strike. I guess the teachers did not have a conscience last year?

Another Real Estate Scandal?

Yet another real estate development company is under investigation by the National Environmental Authority for "egregious behavior".  As part of the company's residential construction project, allegedly two acres of trees were cut down and a stream rerouted.  Not good!  There is also a small problem in that the project was being done without building permits or an approved environmental impact study.  It seems like there is an expose like this weekly, however, this one made the headlines.  The offending company is owned by Alexander Felipe Viriz, the country's former Vice-President.

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida!

Some interesting people.

The ´Can Man´

 

 

 

Life is good!

More From Panama

Other Things I'll Never Understand

 

-  The light that illuminates the 'H' in the big neon sign on the front of the Hotel Occidental burned out about a year ago. Is the fact that it has not been repaired an indictment of the hotel's maintenance practices?  Or is it a tribute to Latino efficiency since the 'H' in Spanish is silent anyway.

-  Are you out of touch if, after watching about an hour of the Emmy telecast, all you have said repeatedly is "Who?"

-  Why is it when you are young, references to 'the heart' are things like, "That player shows a lot of heart", or "She is all heart" or, even better, ".. matters of the heart"?  But, when you are older, any discussion that includes the word 'heart' probably includes words like 'by-pass' or 'aneurism'.

The Hugo Watch Continues

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marches on with his 'Bolivarian Alternative' efforts, supposedly fashioned after mythic liberator Simon Bolivar's dream of a unified Latin American.  So far his efforts have suceeded in him getting Venezuela almost on the same economic level as a couple of the other remaining infamous Communist nations - Cuba and North Korea. And, several of his cohorts in countries that have signed on to the bolivarianismo are not far behind - check Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

Several of Chavez's cohorts have followed his lead and twisted the rules of their deomcracy's by utilizing government tills, government-controlled media, and government institutions to cling to power and crush dissidents, most noteably by changing contitutions to make them potentates-for-life. 

In 1999 Chavez launched his 'savior campaign', starting by wresting the country's vast oil wealth from "the big oil companies and the rapacious elite" (the Venezuelan version of Wall-Streeter bankers?), and "turn the power over to indigenous people and the forgotten poor." 

So, eleven years later, how is the magic working?  Well, for starters, crime has soared - the murder rate has tripled under Chavez's reign.  Recent polls show that 2/3 of Venezuelans see the country in deep decline. And, that does not count the thousands that have 'voted with their feet' over the eleven years (Current estimates put over 15,000 Venezuelans in luxury condos in Panama City alone.) 

The inflation rate continues to be the highest in Latin America at 30% a month - yes, a month!  And, in spite of an official price freeze, economists predict the inflation rate may double this year.  Chronic blackouts and water shortages are darkening industries and forcing homes to ration electricity and baths.

Chavez also continues with his campaign to crush any perceived threat.  After an independent TV channel failed to air a presidential speech, Chavez ordered cable operators to drop the popular station's programming.  The resultant nationwide protest resulted in troops in the streets, tear gas choking Caracas and two dead and dozens injured.  In a later nationwide broadcast, Cavez warned, "Keep this up and you will force me to take radical measures."  Perceived threats also include the patently absurd.  Chavez recently also banned Sony PlayStations and Barbie dolls (imperialist tools) and denounced Twitter (vehicle for terrorists).

But, things are looking up in most of Latin America on this subject.  When Zelaya tried that 'president-for-life' thing in Honduras, their Supreme Court and their legislature said, 'Oh no', and threw the bum out.  The Hondurans made it very clear in the subsequent elections that the want no part of Chavismo - they elected an anti-Chavez president, Porfirio Lobo.  The leftist leaders of Brazil and Peru have rejected Cahvez's vision as well.  And, Chile just elected a conservative president who campaigned on "democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and alternation of power."

Most Latin America watchers agree that Chavez has about run his string, and his on the way out.  But, even that concerns many experts.  He has amassed a huge modern military arsenal.  That fact, combined with Chavez's personality, leads most experts to the same conclusion, best summed up by Mac Margolis in Time Magazine, "The end is unlikely to be pretty."

Maybe Chavez should be a better student of Latin American history.  On a recent cruise stop in Santa Marta, Colombia, I visited Simon Bolivar's grave. Out of curiosity,  I wrote down the inscription on his gravestone and later had it translated to English.  I then question a professor of Latin American history here in the university about whether it said what I thought it was saying. Yes, he told me, "WHOEVER WORKS FOR A REVOLUTION IS PLOWING THE SEA." means exactly what I thought it meant. According to his headstone, by the time Simon Bolivar died, he had become disallusioned with his failed revolution idea!

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida!

    

A Day In The Life Of ....

Where The Heck Are We?

I had to chuckle the other day as I was coming through the edge of  David on the expressway that they call the Inter-American Highway (the highway we in the U.S. call the Pan-American Highway ).  Just past the Price Mart was a big sign advertising the fact that ‘Avatar’ was playing on one of the screens at the Multi-Plex Theatre complex downtown.  Then, right across the street from the KFC franchise, a Honda SUV festooned with ‘Herbalife’ stencils had to brake hard to keep from rear-ending the lady in her pink Toyota with the ‘Mary Kay’ plates as she turned into the Hyundai dealership. In the next block, right in front of the Pizza Hut, a man in a ‘Caterpillar Tractor’ ball cap was talking to a young lady who was all decked out in her ‘New Orleans Saints’ jersey.  We turned off the highway, right in front of the TGI Fridays just as the Elton John song on the radio ended.  Thank goodness the next song was Jose Feliciano singing in Spanish.  We are in Panama. Right?

My Latest Video

I talked last time about the Carnval Season and all the festivals.  This video gives you the sights and sounds to go with it.  Enjoy!

 

Keeping Up With Fashion Trends

One of the stranger things I see down here has to do with women (well, young girls mostly) and boots.  Yes, boots!  It is evidently the ‘in thing’ to wear boots.  Not just any boots, but, over-the-calf boots that appear to be suede.  They wear them with jeans, short skirts, hot pants – the whole fashion deal.  In this heat?  I can’t bring myself to even wear shoes.  The ‘shoe Gods’ invented sandals and flip-flops just for this climate.  Boots?

It appears there is also another new fad.  I noticed when I first arrived down here that many women wear bras that have straps that appear to be a clear plastic.  I guess this is to accommodate the fact that they wear so many spaghetti-strap and off-the-shoulder blouses. (What do I know? Maybe these are worn all over the world and I just never noticed before.) But, just in the last couple of weeks I have noticed a number of women in off-shoulder outfits wearing bras with straps that are color-matched to their outfits. Not color-matched to their blouses, but rather matching their slacks or skirts.  And, we are talking pastels, not black or white. 

Aren’t you relieved to know that I am keeping abreast of these things so that you don’t have to?

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida

What is that on the railing?

 

 

A fire at the tire store in David

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Come To The Festivals In Panama!

What’s Happening Down Here?

There is good news and bad news about Panama’s president.  The good news comes from the latest polls.  President Martinelli enjoys a 91% approval rating, making him the most popular head of state in all of the Americas.

 

The bad news surrounds the arrest of three men who plotting to kidnap the president, two of whom were part of his personal bodyguard contingent.  The U.S. FBI had a part in foiling the plot.  The third person arrested is a Puerto Rican-American who has a history of violence in the U.S.

 

It was also recently announced that the fate of former Panamanian strongman, Noriega, now rests with Secretary of State Clinton. Whether Noriega is extradited to France or back to Panama rests with her.  In his typical straightforward manner, President Martinelli said, “It doesn’t matter whether it is France or Panama, he has to serve his sentence.”

 

I have mentioned before that Chiriqui Province (where I live) is the breadbasket of the country. This week they start grinding the 350,000 tons of sugar cane that has been harvested.  It will take them two months to grind it all, resulting in 30,000 tons of processed sugar.  The estimates are that the two-month effort will produced revenues of  $5.3 million dollars.  That works out to $80,000 a day.

 

Here is an eyebrow-raiser.  The Minister of Government has just introduced an initiative to lower the age at which young people will be considered adults in the criminal justice system.  The initiative is being opposed by some civil rights organizations and some administration sectors of the Justice ministry.  These opposition forces thinks lowering the age from 14 to 12 goes to far.

 

Summer In PanamaIs The Festival Season

 

If you haven’t actually experienced it, it is hard to comprehend how ‘festival     crazy’ the people of Panama are.  Starting now and running through August, every ‘wide place in the road’ in the country has a festival of some kind.  The festivals in the small towns are roughly comparable to U.S. county fairs. Keep in mind that Panama is about the same size geographically as South Carolina, with a population of 3 million (about 2/3 of S.C. population). 

 

But, there are also the major fairs, more like the state fairs in the U.S.   These are usually multi-day events that are spaced out to allow both vendors and visitors to attend them all.  There are twenty four of these major fairs.

 

And, then there are also the Carnavales, which roughly translates to ‘celebration of the flesh’.  The eleven pre-Lenten Carnavales are the major bashes of the festival season, with each one trying to out-do all the others.  The highlights include:

- The carnival in Las Tablas has two queens, one from uptown and one from downtown, and the two opposing camps compete with separate parades to put on the best show. 

 

- The Penonome carnival features all aquatic floats – the parade is on the River Zarati. 

- The unique feature of the Chitre carnival is the daily culeco, the first of which opens the celebration at midnight on Friday (The culeco is the practice of dousing the revelers with a fire hose during the heat of the day – all the revelers).

- The Ocu festival has three queens which are selected by a roving group that includes bands, singers and dancers going house-to-house throughout the city.  At each house that they visit the visitors and wined and dined.

But, all is not paradise.  How about this little note in the El Visitante newspaper,  “The city of Colon has a big Carnival, but it is not recommended for visitors because the city is not safe.”

Oh, I almost forgot, there are also four big religious festivals.  And, there is also a big festival to select a National Festival Queen from all the reigning festival queens.  Phew! 

Till Next Time.  Pura Vida.