Word: panama
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...evidence against Pedro Miguel Gonzalez was strong. Three eyewitnesses said they saw him gun down U.S. Army Sergeant Zak Hernandez in 1992, days before a scheduled visit to Panama by President George Bush. The vehicle used in the shooting was found abandoned at the Gonzalez family ranch, the alleged murder weapon buried at Gonzalez's sister's workplace. Nevertheless, on Nov. 1, after years of delay and controversy, a jury found Gonzalez, the son of the head of Panama's ruling party, innocent of murder, setting off an explosion of indignation. In a replay of the rhetorical battles that marked...
Concern over the Gonzalez verdict goes beyond the imperfections of Panama's court system. The U.S. is scheduled to turn over full operation of the Panama Canal to Panama two years from now. And the question arises: If this is the way the Panamanians run their criminal-justice system, what hope is there for the canal...
...several events that raise questions as to whether the canal can remain free from Panamanian politics--widely acknowledged to be among the most patronage-ridden in Latin America. The fear, especially among shippers, is that the canal, which contributes $100 million of its $600 million in annual tolls to Panama, will be used as a cash cow for fiscally strapped governments and an employment agency for whatever party is in power...
Panamanian officials point out that the canal is so important to world commerce and to Panama's future that they have taken strong measures to keep it above politics, including a constitutional amendment that makes the canal an autonomous corporation. "I think we and the U.S. have a common desire to accomplish the transition in a seamless way so that the users don't even notice it," Perez Balladares said in an interview with TIME. "Basically, we are in good shape...
...actions are out of step with his words. Heir to the helm of the Revolutionary Democratic Party, once in the grip of Noriega, Perez Balladares has appointed Noriega's former Foreign Minister, Jorge Ritter, as his Minister for Canal Affairs and chairman of the new 11-member Panama Canal Authority, the agency that will run the facility after 2000. In addition, the President has invited a storm of criticism by naming a passel of relatives and political cronies to the Canal Authority board. They include his former son-in-law, his cousin, two of his wife's cousins...