America Heads "Toward Darkness"
Garth Franklin: America Ferrera ("Real Women Have Curves", "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants") has signed on to star in and exec produce the indie pic "Hacia la oscuridad" (Toward Darkness) says Variety. Bilingual thriller concerns the last 90 minutes in the life of a kidnapped Colombian and the surrounding tension as his family, the ransom delivery man and a special ops team attempt to save him. Lensing is under way in Panama City with writer-director Antonio Negret helming.
HOUSTON — Continental Airlines Inc. said Wednesday that it raised $156 million by selling shares in the parent of Panama's Copa Airlines and contributed nearly half the proceeds to its pension plans. Continental said it sold 7.5 million of its 11.9 million shares of Copa Holdings S.A. U.S.-traded shares of Copa Holdings SA fell 11 cents to close at $23.09, while Continental shares rose 66 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $30.16 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Copa Airlines operates about 90 flights a day to locations in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean. Houston-based Continental said it is contributing $75 million of the proceeds to pension plans, raising the airline's payments this year to $172 million.
Tholen - The Panamanian government has been unsuccessful in its efforts to negotiate a final agreement with Chiquita Brands on the sales of bananas. The employees of Coosemupar, united in the union Sitrachilco, don't want to postpone a decision any longer. Meanwhile the minister of internal affairs, Manuel José Paredes announced that a final decision will be taken this week, to settle the affairs between the two parties. According to Sitrachilco, the government has been too soft on Chiquita. The governmental commission which has been appointed to attend to the crisis, had requested Sitrachiclo for a little more time, to convince the multinational to renegotiate new long term sales conditions, including modifications to the existing contracts. However, minister Paredes says the time has come to take decisions on the matter. “There will be a resolution, because there will be one,” said Paredes. “We cant wait any longer.” According to Álvaro Muñoz, the Sitrachilco legal advisor, Chiquita refused to buy second class fruit, as well as part of the first class fruit. In the first half of 2006 Chiquita did not acquire 300.000 boxes and it is expected this number will exceed 800.000 in the second semester, which represents a loss of $ 10 mln. to Coosemupar. The prices will decrease with 55 cents during the second semester, which will only worsen the crisis, says Muñoz.
Strong rain storms accompanied by hurricane-force winds blasted costal regions of Chiriqui, knocking down trees, taking roofs off of houses, and knocking out electrical power. Armando Palacios, the regional director of the National System of Civil defense in Chiriquí, said that in the area of Canta Gallo, in the district of Alanje, several houses lost roofs, and in the area of Barú, the areas of Almendro, Corotú, Baco, Finca Blanco, Sangrillo, Los Olivos and El Tecal all saw trees down and banana plants knocked over. Yesterday (Monday) personnel from SINAPROC and the Ministry of Housing, Agriculture, and Public Works inspected the areas damaged by the storm. In the region of Puerto Armuelles Port several houses lost roofs, trees fell on several houses, and more than 3,000 hectares of banana plants belonging to the Cooperative of Multiple Services of Armuelles Port (COOSEMUPAR) were damaged by strong winds. Verísimo Saldaña, of the Barú banana plantation, indicated that approximately 60% to 80% of the plantation was affected, harming a considerable number of the 1,700 people who work there. Modesto González toured eight banana plantations in the sector and said he saw damage at all of them caused by the strong winds.
Representatives of the Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) met yesterday with Panamanian president Martín Torrijos to express their interest in centralizing their Central and South American operations in Panama. "The NYK directors see Panama as a strategic location for their multimodal service sector" said Panamanian ambassador to Japan, Alfredo Martiz. For Panama the installation of a regional operations center for NYK "constitutes an improvement in relations between our nations" said the diplomat. (Editor's Comment: Maersk is pulling out of Panama and moving to Kingston, creating an opening for NYK. See 
The Nation's Comptroller, Dani Kuzniecky, said that the "fake judge" Dulio Arrocha was paid $787,991 between 26 January 1990 and 9 March 2006 in salary, tax breaks, and fuel. He also said that due to a decision from the Panamanian Supreme Court they cannot investigate Arrocha or recover the money he was paid. (Editor's Comment: You've got to be kidding me...they're going to let him get away with it. I'm starting to think the Supreme Court would have been better off under Winston Spadafora. Yeesh.)
The road between Panama City and Colon, officially known as the Boyd-Roosevelt highway and unofficially as Transístmica is finally being repaird, upgraded, and widened. The first section to be repaired is the 8.2 kilometer stretch from the bridge over the Gatun River to Sabanitas, and the 6.0 kilometer section between the town of Cativá and the "cuatro altos" (so named because it used to be an intersection with four-way stop signs) at the entrance to Colon. The project starts at the bridge in San Miguelito all the way to Colon and will include the rehabilitation of 71.2 kilometers of existing roadway. The entire roadway will be blacktopped and widened. In some areas the road has not been upgraded or improved since it was built in 1943. The company Constructora Urbana is already working on the sections between the Gatun River and Sabanitas, and the section between Cativá to the "Four Stops." They are repairing the existing subsurface, paving roadside ditches, and repairing the road's shoulders to make the route more passable and less dangerous. (more)
Individuals and companies are taking advantage of the current construction boom to act as real estate agents with being properly trained, registered, bonded, or licensed. The Panamanian Association of Real Estate Agents and Promotors (ACOBIR) presented a list of 75 companies to Capital Financiero that are supposedly selling real estate illegally. The government organization responsible for overseeing the real estate industry in Panama is the Technical Board of Real Estate of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. ACOBIR has already presented the same list to the MICI. When Capital Financiero contacted the MICI to ask them if they had received the list from ACOBIR they responded that they are aware of the case. The MICI presented Capital Financiero a "purified" (or trimmed down) list of companies that are supposedly operating without authorization and that have not registered with the MICI. The MICI employee who gave this document to Capital Financiero, Lisbeth de Horna, also acts as the secretary of the Technical Board. She gave this list to Capital Financiero without any kind of official MICI seal and on plain paper (without the MICI letterhead.) There were 58 companies on the list "purified" by the MICI.
Panama City, Republic of Panama 3 July 2006 Summary: ClaroCOM, a firm noted for its “action approach” when demonstrating its steadfast conviction in corporate social responsibility, supports Bueno Net Services, a social program that works in favor of single indigenous mothers in Panama, as part or their “Responsible” initiative. ClaroCOM, in their continuing effort to provide the nation a cost effective and efficient telecommunications system at an economic rate, has extended their social pact with the country to benefit the neediest sector of our society. A recent agreement between ClaroCOM and Bueno Net Services, a social program of single indigenous mothers supported by the Sons of David Foundation and the Ministry of Government & Justice will assist Bueno Net complete their commitment to the nation of offering 500 jobs during the period of 2004-2009. The National Bureau of Indigenous Policy of the Ministry of Government & Justice is the official institution committed to the well-being of the indigenous population in the country, therefore, in the past two years it has supported the initiative and efforts implemented by the Sons of David Foundation such as their programs Bueno Net Services and the Enoch Olinga Institute for Intercultural Studies with the creation of the On Line Indigenous University, ENOCIS, 
Applicants to the Police Academy will have to pass through a more rigorous screen process as part of a program to improve the quality of the force. Police Commissioner Maria Angelica Celis, the Chief of Human Resources for the National Police, said the new program is part of an Integral Security Plan. The police academy has raised standards for some tests and added new ones such as polygraph examinations to try to force applicants to tell the truth during interviews. But that's not all. Celis also said they will conduct background checks on all applicants to have a better knowledge base on applicants, police officers, and civil employees. Major Jorge Miranda, the Director of the Police Academy, said that after an internal review of their education plans, he determined that far-reaching reforms are required. They are in the process of rewriting their training plans, and have extended the length of training for recruits from six to eight months.
The national government authorized the Social Investment Fund (FIS) to execute a project to rehabilitate the sewage system in the district of San Miguelito. The project will have a total cost of almost $2.5 million dollars. According to a press release from the FIS three companies participated in the bidding process, S.A., Constructora Total, S.A. y Plotosa, S.A.. Of these, the offer made by Plotosa S.A. was the most advantageous to the state. The president of the legislative Commission of the environment, Milciades Concepción, asked the community not to throw trash in the rivers and streams to help water drainage and to avoid flooding.
The Nation's Comptrollers office discovered 294 civil employees who are on the payroll of two different public organizations and ordered the retention of checks worth $187,020 that were supposed to go out last payday. Of the 294 double-dippers, 185 were going to employees of the central government and the rest to employees of decentralized organizations. During a recent audit the discovered a total of a total of 480 double-dipping civil employees, 185 "provided inconsistent information" and another 109 did not respond to the warning sent out by the Comptroller's office. Only 160 public employees were able to justify their current schedules and another 26 are still under investigation. The civil employees with irregularities will be sent on leave without pay as is established by the payroll structure of the state. In addition, the amount of retained checks will be deposited in an account of the National Treasury.
Ex-Panamanian President and leader of "Moral Vanguard" movement Guillermo Endara announced he will present a complaint before the (Supreme) Court if the National Assembly approves the measure to send the Panama canal expansion project to a referendum, based on unconstitutionality. According to Endara the National Assembly modifed the bill because "in the proposal sent to the assembly by the executive they said the project would cost $5.25 billion dollars, and now in the assembly the bill they are discussing refers to that number as an estimate." Assemblyman and former Minister of Government and Justice Héctor Alemán said that Endara is "is playing politics with a subject of national interest." (Editor's Comment: There it is. The Arnulfistas have thrown down the gauntlet and can now be counted on to spend all of their efforts to stop the canal expansion project. All non-PRD opposition parties will probably fall in line, but the PRD will probably still get the measure past the popular vote in the referendum.)
The Electoral Tribunal (TE) denied as "inadmissible" a request for information presented by La Prensa newspaper to find out if anyone from Colombian Pablo Rayo Montaño's narcotics trafficking ring made donations to presidential candidates during the 1999 or 2004 Panamanian national elections. In a resolution dated 28 June 2006 the Secretary General of the Electoral Tribunal, Ceila Peñalba, stated that article 188 of the Electoral Code says information corresponding to the origin of private donations to support political parties or individual candidates "will be handled in a confidential manner by the Electoral Court". Any information the Electoral Tribunal might hold could only be handed over to the Public Ministry or a court of the Judicial Branch if requested as part of an official investigation. In her judgement Peñalba stated that the request by La Prensa cannot be processed because the newspaper "does not represent any competent authority." Peñalba's decision was in response to a request for information submitted to the court by Eduardo Valdés based on Law No. 6 of 2002 (Transparency Law) on 29 May 2006. The TE published their decision one day before the 30-day window expired. According to the Transparency Law public officials are required to respond to freedom of information requests within 30 days. Civic organizations have requested that the Electoral Code be modified to require the publication of names of private donors. The proposal was vetoed by the National Commission of Electoral Reforms.
Panama's Maritime Authority (AMP) relaxed the requirements for companies interested in competing to build the "mega-port" project in Farfan. Companies now only need to provide information regarding their financing and technical capabilities. According to the Ports Director of the AMP, Rogelio Orillac, the change was made to make the process "more simple." Right now the project is in the prequalification stage, with companies submitting packages that will allow them to compete in the full international bidding process, which is planned for later this year. The AMP is requiring all companies to submit their financial data, banking references, and operational experience with moving 6 million TEU. There are still lawsuits pending in Panama's Supreme Court against the AMP and the bidding process. Companies have until 18 July 2006 to submit their packages. The government plans to hold the full bid later this year with construction to begin in early 2007. The company that wins the bid will have the right to operate the port for 20 years.
One of the central justifications presented by the Panama Canal Authority to support their reasoning is current trends in shipbuilding. I did a quick Google pull on "post-panamax teu" and came up with this report on the Odense Steel Shipyard in Denmark. Since the shipyard was rebuilt and from 1962 they built about 150 ships and tankers, and "Panamax" vessels capable of moving 3500 TEU until the mid 1990's. Since 1996 they have built or plans to built another 60 "post-panamax" ships and "ultra-panamax" ships capable of carrying as many as 10,000 TEU or almost three times the carrying capacity of the M-class 3,500 TEU vessels like the 'Margrethe Mærsk'. The trend is clearly toward much bigger ships as manufacturers continue to seek economies of scale in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Bigger ships translate into falling prices at Walmart.
Every day I sift through the local and international news related to Panama and try to select what to post. Unfortunately the reality is that much of the local news is reporting on crime, corruption, allegations, legal defenses, and political infighting. The reality is that news outlets are in competition for readers, viewers, and listeners, and Panamanians like to follow the ebb and flow just like news-junkies around the globe. There's some "good news" stuff out there, but it seems like 95% of the news involves some kind of aggression, violence, or crime. My point is that you should not this stuff "skew your view" of what's going on down here. I always assume the people who read Panama Guide are smarter than I am and that you guys are perfectly equipped to figure out the truth for yourselves. Sometime I have to pick from the routine "crime and punishment" stuff, and sometimes what's left are articles like "the ministry of public works fixes potholes in Colon." Time to make some popcorn...
BY CINDY YINGST: OLYMPIA -- Ken Pugh and Paula Rauen of Olympia left Saturday on their 42-foot sailboat for a nine-month cruise along the West Coast to Central America and the Panama Canal. They hope it will be the start of a three-year adventure that includes circumnavigating the globe between April 2007 and May 2009. By late afternoon, they were headed beneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. "Five years ago, we switched from cruising in a power boat to a sailboat," said Pugh, 60, who is retired from the state Employment Security Department. "We realized we had no boundaries; we could go anywhere." They've sailed in the Suzanne 2 around Vancouver Island and throughout the region, becoming enamored with the waterways. Rauen, 50, recently resigned her 25-year post as deputy director of Community Youth Services. Their children, Kenny, Ky, Eli and Melaina, have grown. So the time seemed right. Friends and family members gathered near Percival Landing for a send-off Saturday before their 1 p.m. departure. "We'll be keeping our home in Olympia -- our son is living there -- and returning to it," Pugh said by cell phone several hours into their trip. "We want to keep in touch with all the folks back home. Back home. I'm already talking like it's in the past!" The couple plans to post photos and keep a Web log of their journeys at paulaken.blogspot.com.
The VFW is sponsoring a 4th of July celebration with food, music, and fireworks at the Balboa Yacht Club on Fort Amador. The celebrations will start at around 3:00 PM with fireworks after dark. Manny Landron, the VFW Department Public Relations Officer and Chief of Staff for Latin America and the Caribbean reminds people to bring lawn chairs because the is limited seating available at the yacht club. Directions: From Panama City go towards the causeway and take the first right-hand turn once you enter the Ft. Amador area. Follow signs for the Country Inn and Suites Hotel and TFI Friday's. The yacht club will have happy-hour prices in effect, and the VFW is supplying the DJ and fireworks.
66 year-old Amparo Díaz was overwhelmed by the heat so she bought a thermometer to measure the temperature. 34 degrees Celsius (90 f.) in the shade is what it told her. Amparo Díaz enjoys an excellent state of health and has an enviable physical structure, but she walking up the slope to her job exhausted her. She began to sweat profusely, and the weight of the portable computer she was carrying became a nightmare. In the end she confessed: "the heat killed me." And yesterday, like in the last few days, temperatures in the city have hit new highs, even over the 34 degrees Celsius, according to the calculations of the Direction of Hydrometeorology of the Electrical Transmission Company (Etesa). It's normal to have the temperature oscillate between 24 to 32 degrees. Etesa says that in Veraguas the temerature lately has been over 35 degrees Celsius and in David it's over 33. Jose Olivella, meteorologist of that office, attributed the phenomenon to the displacement of hot air masses over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans towards the Earth. He also added that these days there has been a cloud layer that's trapping heat. Five days more of high temperatures are expected.
Yesterday the National Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights (Frenadeso) officially declared that they are against the project to expand the Panama Canal. At their press conference they accused the government of using Ministers, cabinet members, and other high-ranking officials to promote the project using government owned resources and during working hours. "They want us to vote for a risky project with our eyes closed." They said that if approved the nation would lose the opportunity to invest earnings and income from the existing Panama Canal in social projects that would generate permanent quality jobs. (Editor's Comment: Frenadeso got their 15 minutes of fame by forcing the Panamanian government to slow down on the law to reform the social security system. They organized strikes and demonstrations but then walked away from the negotiations to define the new law. Since then Frenadeso has emerged as another perennial antagonist organization, and you can expect to see their banners in demonstrations against the canal expansion project later this fall.)
According to the Ground Transportation and Traffic Authority (ATTT) the 45,000 taxis in Panama will have to be the same color - yellow. Starting in October 2006 taxis owners will have one year (until October 2007) to have their cars painted yellow. In addition, the cars will have to have a reflective strip with a black and white checkerboard pattern. Luis Aparicio, a taxi driver who is affiliated with the Santa Librada group in San Miguelito was happy with the change, saying "I'm glad because it will help to do away with the pirate operators who are stealing our jobs." But Marcos Valencia complained about the additional cost, saying "chaning the color of the car is expensive, like around $500, and times are hard."
