[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

                                 ______
                                 

                       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.

[[Page E1446]]

  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.


[[Page E1447]]

     

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