[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1445-E1447]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROBLEMS IN PANAMA
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HON. ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA
of american samoa
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I wish to inform our colleagues and
our great Nation of important, recent developments in Latin America.
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As you may be aware, Mr. Speaker, the country of Panama held its
elections on May 2, 1999, which resulted in the selection of Panama's
first female president, the Honorable Mireya Moscoso. President-elect
Moscoso will be inaugurated into office this September 1st.
Mr. Speaker, this is a very positive development in Panama's
progression to true democratic governance, for which the good people of
that nation should be deeply congratulated. However, Mr. Speaker, the
good news is overshadowed by the fact that the influence and policies
of Panama's current president, Ernesto Perez Balladares, will likely
continue for some time to control key government agencies.
Mr. Speaker, I find it troubling that Mr. Balladares wields a shadowy
influence over the Moscoso administration through his control of
political appointees he has selected for critical positions in the
government--appointees whose terms of office will continue long after
Mr. Balladares has stepped down as Panama's President.
Mr. Speaker, our colleagues should understand this is crucial because
the recent election results are a positive sign that may significantly
influence the future course of U.S.-Panamanian relations as Washington
enters a critical time, the final transitional period for relinquishing
control over the Panama Canal.
Mr. Speaker, President-elect Moscoso should be allowed to represent
the will of the good people of Panama, unhindered by political
handcuffs from prior administrations.
On that subject, Mr. Speaker, I recommend the following research
memorandum which was authored by Dr. Brittmarie Janson Perez, a
Panamanian anthropologist who is a fellow at the Institute of Latin
american Studies at the University of Texas.
Dr. Perez also holds a senior research fellowship at the prestigious
Council of Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), which is based in Washington
under the leadership of Director Larry Birns, a respected, longtime
advocate for democracy and human rights in Latin America. The attached
article represents an updated version of Dr. Perez' work, which
originally appeared in COHA's biweekly publication, the Washington
Report on the Hemisphere.
Mr. Speaker, I urge our colleagues to read this timely article which
addresses the need to observe upcoming events in Panama to ensure that
the Moscoso administration is able to constructively impact the
direction in which Panama develops, despite strong and likely non-
productive opposition from pro-Perez Balladares partisans.
Panama Elections Do Not Send A Clear Signal
(By Dr. Brittmarie Janson Perez)
A few days before Panama's May 2 presidential elections, a
cartoon in a local newspaper depicted President Ernesto Perez
Balladares squirming on a throne and moaning, ``Nobody is
looking at me.'' On election day, the man whose regime has
been labeled a ``civilian dictatorship,'' tried to steal the
limelight by telling the French news agency AFP that he
wanted to be president again. However, his ambitions were
destined to be postponed for at least 10 years when Perez
Balladares' move amending the constitution which would allow
him to immediately run again, was resoundingly defeated in a
referendum last year.
Nevertheless, he will cast a long shadow on the
administration of president-elect Mireya Moscoso, the
victorious opposition candidate. Through is appointees, known
for their eagerness to comply with his wishes, Perez
Balladres, on a de facto basis, will be able to control the
Supreme Court, the Attorney General's office, the Electoral
Tribunal and the Technical Judicial Police during the Moscoso
administration. To make matters worse, thanks to millions of
dollars supplied by his regime over the past five years to
legislators of ruling Revolutionary Democratic (PRD) to spend
in their respective districts, Perez Balladares' party has
retained its majority in the National Assembly.
Present economic situation
The lame duck leader's ongoing influence within the
government structure could bode no good for any hopes of the
new leadership to blunt the costly neoliberal reforms he
vigorously implemented while in power. As elsewhere in the
hemisphere, economic globalization has tended to benefit
foreign investors and the local elite, but does not appear to
be arresting the impoverishment of the rural campesinos as
well as the urban lower and middle sectors. For example,
while non-traditional agricultural exports such as melons and
watermelons was increasing, the market for local beef,
potatoes, vegetables and other traditional products was
shrinking due to cheap competitive imports. The power of
labor unions was also being seriously undercut by restrictive
reforms enacted by Perez Balladares. His privatization of the
state-run telephone company resulted in higher rates for the
lower and middle urban sectors, which has caused an
appreciable hardship on their lifestyle.
In the recent electoral campaign, expectations were raised
that the worst effects of Perez Balladares' policies could be
remedied at the polls. All three presidential candidates--
Moscoso as head of the Amulfista Party in the Union for
Panama coalition; Martin Torrijos, the son of the late
authoritarian ruler, who became the PRD candidate in the New
Nation coalition after Perez Balladares' referendum bid to
allow him to run again had failed; and Alberto Vallarino, a
banker who split from the Amulfista Party and formed the
Opposition Action coalition with the support of the Christian
Democrats--addressed economic issues from different
perspectives, and made numerous promises aimed at ending the
dreary status quo.
Already educators are warning Moscoso that if she now
decides to implement policies that are harmful to the poor
(who made up the bulk of her supporters), she can except
street protests once she is inaugurated. Yet, Moscow's
power to implement important economic pallatives is
limited by overseas accords signed by Perez Balladares
with the international lending agencies. Also, prospective
social investments by her administration likely have been
jeopardized due to the legacy of profligate spending by
Perez Balladares in order to curry political favor. Her
power to govern, even to maintain fundamental public
order, will be restricted by his lingering influence over
critical government institutions whose proper functioning
could have made a difference.
Dividing Up the Spoils
Perez Balladares' inaugural speech, which contained
promises of austerity in public spending and transparency in
government were given short shrift, eventually producing
widespread mistrust of him among the citizenry, who nicknamed
him ``Pinocchio.'' He had resurrected Manuel Noriega's
discredited political vehicle, the PRD, with the aid of some
of the more notorious members of the now Miami-jailed
dictator's coterie. Upon taking office in 1994, Perez
Balladares pardoned hundreds of PRD members and military
personnel who were facing charges of murder, torture, and
embezzling state funds during the Noriega era. Some
individuals were even appointed to his cabinet. He also made
questionable appointments to the boards of independent
government agencies, including the Panama Canal Authority
(ACP) and the Administration of the Interoceanic Region
(ARI), the last-named body using entrusted with the
disposition of canal properties transferred to Panama as the
U.S. relinquishes control over the facility.
Perez Balladres is particularly vulnerable to accusations
of malfeasance regarding the process used to dispose of
former canal properties. Thanks to his party's legislative
steamroller, he was able to change the ARI's charter,
stripping the institution of its all-important independence.
Increasing the ARI's board of directors to his personal
satisfaction, Perez Balladres ousted an ARI administrator
known for his honesty and firm hand, and Nicholas Ardito
Baletta, a highly controversial World Bank official who was
``elected'' president of Panama through a Noriega-
orchestrated electoral fraud in 1984. In this way, he was
able to obtain oversight of the transfer of the ``treasure of
Panama,'' the properties, installations and land adjacent to
the Canal, whose value has been conservatively estimated at
over $4 billion by the U.S. ambassador to Panama.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that he or his agents will be
held accountable for their questionable actions involving
numerous allegations of moral turpitude. On the contrary, the
institutions and offices over which Perez Balladares and his
party will continue to exercise influence, likely will be
used to harass the president-elect at every turn.
Changes to be pursued under the new government
There is a widespread clamor in Panama to significantly
alter or replace the 1972 Constitution imposed during the
dictatorship of Gen. Torrijos, and amended under the aegis of
the two military leaders who followed him, Generals Ruben D.
Paredes and Manuel Noriega. Critics charge that it grants
excessive powers to the executive branch at the expense of
the legislature. Paradoxically, the PRD's predictably
obstructionist legislative majority will oblige the
president-elect to renege on her campaign promise to
democratize Panama through giving more power to the national
assembly. Observers note that if she does not make ample use
of the range of powers with which the military dictatorships
purposively endowed the executive branch, she will, in
effect, be unable to govern the country.
President-elect Moscoso has outgrown the charges made
against her of being a decorative figure who inherited a
titular role in the party because of her late husband, Pres.
Arnulfo Arias. This image along with other factors marred her
prospects in the 1994 presidential campaign, which she lost
to Perez Balladares. Since then, she has made herself known
throughout Panama by waging a tireless grassroots campaign,
touring city and countryside to keep in touch with
Panamanians of all stations. She proved her grit in intra-
party squabbles when she snuffed out Alberto Vallarino's 1998
challenge her rule in her party's presidential primaries.
It is unfair to her and the Panamanian people that the
country is almost doomed to remain a victim of the baleful
and corrupt legacies of past dictatorships, and that Perez
Balladares and his PRD could jeopardize the administrative of
the first woman president of Panama, who will also assume, in
the name of her country, responsibilities of running the
Panama Canal.
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