Larry's Central American Travels

Serial Killer (Wild Bill) Goes On Trial

 

 

Wild Bill Is Going To Trial

The American William Dathan Holbert, a.k.a. "Wild Bill" along with his partner Laura Michelle Reese, will face three separate trials in May before the Superior Tribunal in Chiriqui, for the murders of five people. The hearing on 7 May 2012 will be for the murders of Michael and Manchittha ("Nan") Brown, and their teenage son Watson. On 21 May is the trial for the murder of Cheryl Lynn Hughes, and on 29 May for the murder of Bo Icelar. All of the murders took place in Bocas del Toro. (Panama America)

Interestingly Holbert's entire "defense" strategy has been to confess to all of the murders (including the murder of Jeff Kline in Costa Rica) in order to spare his partner Laura Michelle Reese. Since she is going on trial it appears that strategy did not work. That may be because of the testimony of other people. Don Winner (Panama Guide) reports for instance: “Question - where was Laura Michelle Reese standing when (Bill) smashed the back of Jeff Kline's head with a hammer? (Answer - she later laughed with a friend during a three week long cocaine binge about how funny it was to see Kline's face land - 'splat' - into the plate of spaghetti she had cooked for him.) There's another witness who saw Laura Michelle Reese helping to carry Bo Icelar's body to their boat in Bocas. Nope, I'm convinced she was in on the whole thing from start to finish, and she's just as guilty as Holbert. Now, let's see if the prosecutors can convince a jury.”

Nice folks, huh?

 

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Be sure and visit my other blog, “The View From Here” for random musing on a variety of subjects. Just click on the ‘Hot Topics’ link on the left.

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Protesting Ngöbe-Buglé Indians Not Finished

The issue in contention is hydroelectric projects on lands of the Ngäbe Bugle region and in adjoining areas. The Indians reject any hydroelectric development in the region and demand the cancellation of the concession granted for the Barro Blanco project. It was precisely this issue of the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project that prevented the debate from advancing, because the indigenous leaders maintain their position and they demand the cancellation of that concession, but Government Minister Jorge Ricardo Fabrega said this project is not located in areas annexed to the Ngäbe Bugle region.

Thirty one days ago the Indians and the Government, following the fighting in Chiriqui, initiated a dialog. So far they have only agreed there will be no mining in the area or adjoining areas, but there has been no agreement on the subject of hydroelectric power plants. (The Indians want to ban hydroelectric projects throughout the country.)

The traditional Ngäbe authorities, during the protests in 2011, overthrew Chief Rogelio Moreno for betraying the indigenous struggle against mining. Silvia Carrera was then elected Chieftain on 11 September 2011, but in those elections, of the 108,999 Ngäbes eligible to vote, only 28% participated in the election, while 72% abstained.

The traditional authorities (14 grassroots Ngäbe Bugle organizations in the region), and the Deputy Chief of San Felix, Mijita Andrade, met to define actions to be taken this coming week, after both Carrera and the Coordinator accepted an eight day recess last Monday. The pause also was requested for the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the passing of Law 10, which created the Ngäbe-Bugle region.

Carrera would only say that on Monday she would ask for an explanation from the Minister of Government Jorge Fabrega, who on Wednesday said the Barro Blanco hydroelectric project would not be cancelled.

However, the Indigenous groups in the Ngäbe-Bugle region have issued an ultimatum to the General Chief Silvia Carrera to ban mining and hydro within the district and adjoining areas, otherwise they will hit the streets to protest. Liborio Miranda, a Ngäbe leader, said this  'If there is no agreement this week, we do not rule out a new revolt in the region, and we demand the withdrawal of Carrera and the members of the Coordinator from the talks, to make way for new leaders to represent the true interests of the people."

Larry Notes: Not only is this battle not over – the ‘Fat Lady’ isn’t even in the building.

 

What’s The Deal With Hydroelectric Power?

The rapid growth and expansion of the Panamanian economy in the past seven years have placed ever increasing demands on the nation's ability to generate electrical power. During the Torrijos administration there was one year of much lower than normal rainfalls caused by El Niño ENSO conditions in the equatorial Pacific ocean. As a result water levels behind the existing dams dropped down to a point where they were forced to halt the generation of electrical power. The government had to implement rolling blackouts and other methods to reduce power consumption for a few months. Eventually the rainy season returned (much later than normal), the reservoirs filled back up, the power came back on, and everyone forgot about it.

However the episode served as a "wake up call" for the government and as a result there was a massive spurt of new concessions granted to build new hydro electric projects all over the country. Right now, today, the new projects coming on line are just barely keeping pace with the growing demand and rapidly expanding economy in Panama.

The energy consumption by Panamanians has increased, which means demand is about to exceed the available supply. In 2012 Panamanians energy consumption is projected to increase by another 5.8%, continuing the trend of the last several years. There is now a narrow margin between power produced and power required. Note that 56% of the country’s power is produced by hydroelectric power and the rest is generated by coal and light diesel. It is also interesting to note that Panama in 2011 was a net importer of electrical power, not an exporter as commonly thought.

This country is blessed with massive amounts of rainfall every year (normally). Hydroelectric projects are the cleanest, cheapest, and most efficient way to generate electrical power. The cost is less than half of what it costs to generate power by burning fossil fuels such as oil or coal. So yeah, there's no doubt about it. Panama needs hydroelectric power, and the government can't afford to allow a relatively small minority of the indigenous Ngäbe-Bugle Indians dictate national policy on this issue. 

 

 Another North American Fugitive Captured In Panama

 

A man named Michael Smith, 50, a Canadian, was captured on the beach in Coronado. Smith has been wanted by Canadian authorities since 2009 on 29 criminal charges, of which 22 are first-degree murder, while the rest are for drug trafficking. According to the Canadian sources he is part of the criminal group called the Hell's Angels.

 

Seeing Panama

Only in Panama can one visit the Caribbean and the Pacific in the same day with such ease. Via the new Don Alberto Motta highway between Panama City and Colon, cars and buses cross the isthmus in about an hour for under $5 in toll booth fees.

The country’s attractive capital, located on the eastern side of the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, has so much to offer that the ‘other side’ – the Caribbean – is often overlooked. But it not should be ignored by those who wish to experience something completely different. Panama’s `Caribbean side´, particularly around the historical town of Portobelo, caters for many different tastes.  Next weekend, throngs of travelers will make the 90-minute trip to Portobelo along the ‘La Costa Arriba’ (or the ‘Upper Coast’) in the Colón province for the first annual Congo Festival.

 

My Book – ‘Angels in Panama’

My book is still available at a reasonable price paperback from the publisher.

The book is also now available in e-book form as well from both Amazon (for the Kindle) and Barnes & Noble (the Nook).   

The links below are for the various formats of my book. I have also included a link to my website where you can read excerpts of ‘Angels in Panama’ if you want.

Paperback from Publisher $9.95 

Kindle (Amazon) $15.95 

Nook (Barnes/Noble) $15.95 

Angels Web Site 

 

 

Till Next Time. Pura Vida

 

 

 

Panama's Achilles Heel Revisited

 

On 2 February I published a blog posting highlighting what I call an ‘Achilles Heel’ in Panama’s infrastructure – namely that there is only one highway that traverses the country.  (http://larrytravels.typepad.com/larrys_travels/2012/02/panamas-infrastructure-achilles-heel.html)  I outlined how the Inter-American Highway (in the U.S.we refer to it as the Pan-American highway) is really the conduit for the movement of goods, services and people in the country. And there are no alternate routes – in Panama there is no bail off of I-40 and pick up Route 66 or get off I-95 and take Route 1 to avoid problems.  The U.S. (and most other countries) do not have a similar critical ‘soft spot’.  So at the time I wrote the article it was basically a theoretical discussion on my part – a subject that came to my mind due (I guess) to my military experience and logistics background.

Well now, looking back at what happened after several days of ‘road closing’, I see that it is even a more serious situation than I had envisioned.  If for no other reason, the highway being closed personalized the situation – put faces on it if you will.  

I was not too surprised when the gas tanker trucks couldn’t get to Chiriqui and local service stations ran out of gas. But I hadn’t thought about the electric generating plant on the island of Colon (and city of Bocas del Toro) being gas powered. And I realized that Chiriqui provided fruits, vegetables and produce for the entire country, but it was something else to see that produce being destroyed by the truckloads because it couldn’t get transported to markets. It was also a shocker to see multiple tanker trucks parked on David’s town square dispensing free milk to all comers. It was only later that I learned that it was ‘raw’ milk and they could not get it to the plants to be pasteurized.

There was also a lot of personal misery inflicted on a lot of people, the kind of problems that get overlooked when the political debates on the contentious issues continue.  What about the people whose health dictated that they should not be trapped in a car on the highway for hours?  What if the ambulance you needed was on the ‘wrong side’ of the road block from you?  Or, the ambulance picked you up but they couldn’t get you to the hospital? Or you needed a fire truck at your house?  Or police car?  And when you are hunkered down in your house as people are outside burning down the police station and trashing government buildings, do you cover your little children’s eyes or their ears – or both?

After the original ‘Achilles Heel’ posting I got flack from every direction. You would have thought I threw Rosa Parks off the bus or personally rewrote history by rescuing General Custer. Of course virtually none of vitriol addressed my central point of the dangers posed by the ‘Achilles Heel’.  

So knowing what I know now, I reiterate: No person, group, movement or organization should be allowed to close the highway. Period! You can demonstrate all over the country including Martinelli’s back patio, but you don’t close off the nation’s lifeline. And attempts to do so should be met swiftly, with force as necessary, and with no negotiations of any kind prior to the road being reopened. And people involved in the closure should be tried and convicted, not pardoned.

There are those I am sure who disagree with my approach, but I feel strongly that is the proper role of government. In a civilized society the government’s most important  function is to care for the nation as a whole.  Regardless of the issues, a small percentage can not be allowed to hold the rest of the country hostage. Much of the dialogue I hear on this subject wants to gloss over this fact with some kind of historical overview of what Christopher Columbus did when he arrived here. That was then, this is now. Such arguments are akin to defense witnesses’ testimony about the mass murderer’s lunch room traumas in the 3rd grade.

 

Till Next Time. Pura Vida