 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
||
| News and Views From Around the World | Africa 
Americas
Asia-Pacific
Europe
Middle East
Front Page |
|
|
 |
|
Americas
|
 |
| President Mireya Moscoso's administration has been tainted by allegations of corruption (Photo: AFP). |
“There is no feeling of revolution in the streets, Carrera Loza and Jackson wrote, “but it does seem that the country has reached a point at which few people have much confidence in any branch of the government, political party, or individual leader. The national discourse of the moment is an inquiry about what can be done to get rid of the corruption that’s damaging Panama’s democratic institutions and business climate.”
Paulino Romero, a Panamanian academic and diplomat writing in La Prensa (Feb. 7), argued that President Mireya Moscoso and the National Assembly are reaping the bitter fruits of Panamanians’ “experience of anguish, deception, disillusionment, frustration, and repudiation” inspired by repeated failures to punish and eradicate official corruption. “Opposition legislators, businessmen, educators, workers, lawyers, journalists, and finally, the entire citizenry have pointed out and denounced scandals of corruption, nepotism, and other violations of the constitution and the law,” Romero wrote. “But at no time has the government been disposed to swiftly correct it. Quite the contrary, its response has always been the same, ‘Let them present the evidence’—and nothing more!”
Advertiser Links |
Links open in new window. Credit Card Search - Search and compare credit card offers CreditLoan: Finance Advice, Car Loans & Bad Credit Debt Loans RAM Memory for Computers, Laptops, and Printers. Wholesale! Tours to New York City: Transfers, Hotels, Cruises, Shows Laptop Batteries Camcorder Batteries Best Gift Clubs - Wine, Hot Sauce, Cigar of the Month Clubs! |
Carlos Guevara Mann, former Panamanian director general of foreign policy, offered an incisive analysis in La Prensa (Jan. 31), tracing the roots of parliamentary corruption back to the origins in 1984 of the present Legislative Assembly. The military dictatorship reorganized the national legislature “to apply a ‘democratic’ veneer to the arbitrary actions of an authoritarian regime....[It] converted the assembly into a business for legislators and political parties,” who routinely traded votes for “bags of cash” and other special favors. Guevara Mann lamented that the nation’s return to democratic rule in the early 1990s failed to produce “the political will to...democratize state institutions,” evidenced by a series of well-publicized vote buying and other bribery scandals that have roiled the legislative assembly over the past decade.
“As a consequence of that lack of will..., today a frightful degree of corruption predominates in the legislature,” Guevara Mann concluded. “The culture of corruption...has undermined the foundations of the Panamanian political structure. Now is the time for us to rebuild on solid and democratic bases.”
Web-Exclusive Alert
Sign up for both our web exclusive e-mail newsletter and our indispensable World Headlines.
 |
|
| Copyright © 1997-2009 Worldpress.org. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Notice
Terms & Conditions
Front Page |
![](http://www.ccd.edu/main.
<!-- End article -->
<!-- End article -->
<!-- ::: END MIDDLE ::: -->
<div class="related">
<div class="line"><img src="http://www.worldpress.org/images/spacer.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /></div>
<h2>Related Articles</h2>
<p><span class="link"><strong><a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/3122.cfm">Cameroon Nip and Tuck: Fleshing Out African Corruption</a></strong></span><br />Patty Bates-Ballard, VoteSizing.org, April 18, 2008</p>
<p><span class="link"><strong><a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/3083.cfm">Publisher Deported in Fiji Amid Allegations of State Corruption</a></strong></span><br />Sanjay Ramesh, Sydney, Australia, March 2, 2008</p>
<p><span class="link"><strong><a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Asia/2941.cfm">Journalists Sentenced for Uncovering Corruption</a></strong></span><br />Binod Ringania, Guwahati, India, September 25, 2007</p>
<p><span class="link"><strong><a href="http://www.worldpress.org/Mideast/2485.cfm">Slow Reconstruction Blamed on Corruption</a></strong></span><br />Integrated Regional Information Networks, United Nations, September 8, 2006</p>
<br />
</div>
</div>
</td>
<td width="10" rowspan="2"> </td>
<td width="160" rowspan="2">
<div id="wprrightbar">
<!-- ::: RIGHT BAR ::: -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.worldpress.org/adsys/ads.cfm?c=BC69E18B-3048-66AA-CB7F3F42E6C63B91"></script>
<p>
<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2" class="x" style="margin-top: 5px;">
<tr valign="top"><td style="background: #333366; font: 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;"><strong>ADVERTISEMENTS</strong></td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="background: #cccccc; font: 11px Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #ffffff;">
<a href="http://www.carloan4u.co.uk/" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Car Finance</a><br><a href="http://www.badcarcredit.co.uk/" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Bad Car Credit</a><br><a href="http://www.nationalcreditfixers.com" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Credit Repair Company</a><br><a href="http://www.debtresponse.co.uk/bankruptcy/bankruptcy.aspx" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Uk Bankruptcy</a><br><a href="http://www.lightspeedpayday.com/" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Payday Loans</a><br><a href="http://www.cheaploans.co.uk" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Cheap Loans</a><br><a href="http://www.designerwholesalesources.com" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Discount Designer Apparel</a><br><a href="http://www.legitimateonlinejobs.com" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Legitimate Online Jobs</a><br><a href="http://www.cardealers.ltd.uk" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Car Dealers</a><br><a href="http://www.jennings-ford.co.uk/cars-north-east/" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Used Cars North East</a><br><a href="http://www.nissangarages.co.uk" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Nissan Garages</a><br><a href="http://www.floraselect.co.uk" target="_blank" onclick="doWindow(this.href); return false;" onkeypress="doWindow(this.href); return false;" style="color: #000000;">Garden plants</a><br>
</td></tr>
<tr><td bgcolor="#ffffff" height="2"></td></tr>
</table>
</p><br />
<div class="related"><p class="head"><strong>Country Profiles</strong></p>
<p><span class="link"><a href="http://www.worldpress.org/profiles2/Panama.cfm"> Panama</a></span></p><br />
</div>
<script src="http://www.worldpress.org/feeds/wprw.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<noscript>
<div class="related">
<p class="head"><strong style="font-size: 10px;">Today){kind=link}