PRD Membership Drive Tomorrow
By DON WINNER for Panama-Guide.com - Panama's Partido Revolucionario Democratico (PRD) (Democratic Revolutionary Party) political party is holding a nationwide membership drive tomorrow, Sunday, 10 June 2007, starting at 8:00 am. This event is a lead-in to the upcoming elections to the National Executive Committee (CEN) of the party as well as a nationwide primary election. Ex-Panamanian president Ernesto Perez Balladares has been pushing the sign-up campaign hard, and hopes to make a grass-roots run at the primary.
Copyright 2007 by Don Winner for Panama-Guide.com. As usual, go ahead and use whatever you want as long as you credit the source. Salud.
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Would someone please explain the marvels of modern technology to Mireya Moscoso? Tell her when she has a microphone in front of her face her voice will be greatly amplified, like magic. Everyone in the room will be able to hear her and there's no need to yell or raise her voice. This bad habit of hers first grated on my nerves during her entire political campaign and tenure as Panama's president. Anytime she got in front of a crowd of people, microphone or no, she feels the need to scream like a horny banshee on crack. This weekend she went to some political rally somewhere and when the time came for her to give her commentary on the state of affairs, she was literally screaming into the microphone. The feedback was impressive as the sound tech struggled to keep the amps from going into orbit, and the guy sitting next to her was wincing in pain. Mireya, of course, was completely and totally oblivious to the mistake she's made about a gazillion times. No one heard a word she said because it was both unintelligible and painfully distracting from the message. It's just her, but it's irritating as hell. The anti-communicator.
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This afternoon the owner of the Super 99 chain of supermarkets, founder and chair of Panama's Cambio Democratico (CD) political party Ricardo Martinelli had a working lunch with the President of the Panamanista party Juan Carlos Varela, intended to publicly unite the political forces they both represent. Last week two former presidents Guillermo Endara and Mireya Moscoso met to do the same thing (unite forces, that is.) It seems that we will have at least a three-way race for the Presidency in 2009, and it looks to be shaping up between Varela, Endara, and Navarro. Now don't get confused because you will be seeing two guys named "Juan Carlos" (Navarro and Varela), two guys named Navarro (Juan Carlos and Samuel Lewis), as well as two ex-presidents (Endara and Moscoso) not counting Martin Torrijos, the son of a former dictator. Programs! Get your programs, here... Don't worry, I'm a political junkie so I'll keep track of all the fun and games and report as it unfolds. I think I already predicted months ago that current Housing Minister Balbina Herrera will be the new Mayor of Panama City, and that Samuel Lewis Navarro will win both a PRD primary and the general election as the hand-picked successor to Torrijos. Just remember you heard it here first.
In the past ex-president Mireya Moscoso has called ex-president Guillermo Endara a "traitor" and he has called her "corrupt." But all of that has been forgotten as the two political figures announced a reconciliation yesterday as two the old Panameñistas got together to display splendid smiles and to plead for the union of the various opposition factions leading up to the elections of 2009. (Editor's Comment: Endara was Panama's first post-invasion President. The "opposition" united several flags and camps, all of whom wanted to see Noriega gone. In the following election all of the factions that united for a cause tried to grab power for themselves, and left the door open for Ernesto Balladares to win with a minority vote. Five years later Moscoso was able to stitch together enough of a coalition to beat the PRD but her administration was widely seen as the worst of the post-invasion presidents. Now the "opposition" recognizes that the PRD is stronger than ever, the economy is booming, and Martin Torrijos has apparently weathered the CCS meds crisis, the bus fire, has pushed through the expansion of the canal, and is presiding over a booming economy. They will be tough to beat in 2009, and the opposition has demonstrated their inability to produce some fresh faces with new ideas and instead continue to haul out the same old dinosaurs of Endara, Moscoso, and Balladares. In Panama, this reads like "Carter and Perot in 2008". What are they thinking?) (Photo Credit: La Prensa/ Eric batista)
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If you remember on 21 January 2007 I published 
The news today was just full of invernal political moves from the Partido Panameñista, Cambio Democratico, the Unión Patriótica, Movimiento Vanguardia Moral de la Patria, Molirena, and Arunflistas. There was even an announcement of a new party being formed called the PAP that wants to be like Chavez. The buzz is that the opposition parties want to form some kind of a united front to challenge the PRD in 2009, and in reality if more than one opposition candidate splits the ticket they don't stand a chance. The Panamanian economy is booming and that usually turns into a "stay the course" response. At this stage it's still very early in the process. Mireya Moscoso came out to say that any coalition should be led by the Panameñista party because they are the largest opposition party in Panama. For the most part I'm going to ignore all of this internal infighting until they get it sorted out.
Go West, Young Man! Never underestimate the power of a single speech. A couple of weeks ago Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez gave his inauguration speech for this next term in office, and when it was done everyone in Venezuela with more than $30 is the bank bought a plane ticket to Panama. To live. Here they come, en mass. Chavez spouted some more of his usual stuff, and the bottom line was something like "we're going to eat the rich." So, the rich are leaving, and they want to buy a condo in Punta Pacifica. I mean, Venevision is coming to Panama. Everyone who can is getting the hell out, now. Pretty soon Chavez is going to make some moves to shut down the flow of capital and people out of the country. It's an exodus. In the end, Venezuela's economy will get what it deserves and unfortunately a lot of people are going to suffer for the aspirations of one man. Castro is dead (almost.) Long live Chavez! And, here comes more direct foreign capital investment to Panama City.
By Saúl Quintero Quirós for 
